Peter Maxwell Davies

The solo group consists of a sextet of the woodwind instruments which are normally doubled with more regular members of the orchestra: these six strangers now brought to the fore are piccolo alto flute cor anglais clarinet inEb bass clarinet in Bb and contrabassoon. They make a motley group diverse in colour as in register and one of the tasks of the piece sets itself is to have them blend and cohere both together as an ensemble and in partnershipwith the string orchestra (which itself is used with unusual variety and subtlety). Another evident task of the work is to provide fine solos for each member of the woodwind sextet: bright dances for the piccolo recitativesfor the alto flute a stoical song from the contrabassoon in the extreme bass. The work is cast as a single movement which begins in the composer's first-movement style of rapid regeneration. This is interrupted by slowinterventions including one for divided strings which gives rise to a sextuple cadenza for the soloists. Out of this comes a slow movement or sequence of short slow movements followed by a dancing finale with its own slowepisodes. Altogether this is music of songs and dances heavily tinged with Scottish rhythms and tonalities: one might think of a magic bagpipe having six chanters and a drone of variegated string texture.

Peter Maxwell Davies. Six lively songs for group and solo singing with photocopiable parts for percussion and recorders. Colourful tunes and lyrics explore different moods and musical ideas and stimulate a variety of activitiesincluding dance and movement. The melodies lie easily within the range of young children’s voices. Attractive as classroom material or concert item.

This work was commissioned by the University of British Columbia through the gift of David Lemon. It was first performed on 11th May 1997 at the Chan Center University of British Columbia Vancouver Canada by Valdine Anderson(soprano) Linda Maguire (mezzo soprano) Paul Moore (tenor) and Kevin McMillan (baritone) with the Vancouver Bach Choir and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra conducted by the composer.Like Vaughan Williams in his Job: A Masque forDancing Davies was inspired in part by William Blake's 21 engravings for the Book of Job. His oratorio however is less dependent on finding parallels for Blake's visual details given the direct poetry in David Lemon'sadaptation of the Stephen Mitchell translation from the biblical original it is hardly surprising that the spotlight should be so much on Job's suffering litany. The baritone has the lion's share of the setting though the othersoloists occasionally reinforce his plea and chorale-like episodes universalize his predicament. Davies frames with work with two seminal plainsong-like passages; there is also plenty of dramatic contrast both within Job'smonologues and in the vivid orchestral writing for the smarmy Comforters the initially shrill God who finally appears out of a dazzling orchestral whirlwind and the animal life he uses to illustrate the wonders of creation to ahumbled Job.

Orchestral study score. This work was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was first performed on 23 April 1997 by Stewart McIlwham and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer. The threemovements should be played without a break.The piccolo may have obvious limitations as a solo instrument but Davies is not one to shirk a challenge. What he does is to play with the stereotypical modes of the instrument sothat the military ?pipe and drum? effect is hinted at near the beginning of the third movement while the jaunty manner is recalled at the close of the first but as through a veil. A potentially comic partnership with the bassclarinet is also dignified when the two instruments engage in meditative dialogue in the second movement. Solo part and piano reduction on sale. Conductor's score and orchestral parts are available on hire.

A work for SATB soli SATB chorus and orchestra using a variety of texts selected by Alistair Grant who commissioned the work to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Jacobite rising (1745-6). It was first performed inOctober 1997 in Glasgow by Lisa Tyrrell (soprano) Margaret McDonald (mezzo soprano) Neil Mackie (tenor) and David Wilson-Johnson (baritone) the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus (chorus master Ben Parry) and the ScottishChamber Orchestra conducted by the composer.Vocal score with piano reduction of the instrumental score. Duration c. 40mins.

Study score of the Quintet for Trumpet and String Quartet. This work was commissioned by the University of Aberdeen Aberdeen City Council and the Cheltenham International Festival of Music. It was first performed on 25thFebruary 1999 by the Yggdrasil Quartet and John Wallace (trumpet). Duration c. 28 minutes. Scored for Trumpet in C Violin Viola Cello. Instrumental parts are available on sale.