Peter Maxwell Davies

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.

For unaccompanied SATB chorus to words by George Mackay Brown.Composer Note:In setting George Mackay Brown’s acrostic lines for the birth of Lucy Randall (the first child borne in Rackwick Hoy for 32 years) I set myself the uncharacteristic problem of banishing all ‘black’ notes – that is the work used only the ‘white’ notes on the piano – a symbolic ‘conceit’ I had not tried before. The music has the gentle rocking rhythm suitable for its purpose and I enjoyed writing the tune so much I repeated all of the text in order to hear it twice. -Peter Maxwell Davies

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.

Chamber opera in a prologue and one act. A ghost story telling of the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in the Hebrides. This is a mystery story in the form of a chamber opera. The prologue is set as acourt of enquiry into the unexplained disappearance of the three keepers from a lighthouse. Questions are posed by a solo horn which may sound from among the audience and three officers give answer. Gradually they move fromstraight testimony into fantastical imaginings of evil during a 'flashback' to the lighthouse; but then we snap back to the courtroom. In the main act the three singers become the vanished keepers. They have been together formonths long enough to be fully aware of each other's weaknesses; petty bickerings suggest a relationship which is stable but liable to become highly unstable at any moment. They sing songs to reduce the tension Blazes beginningwith a rough ballad of street violence accompanied by violin and banjo. Sandy's song with cello and out-of-tune upright piano is a thinly disguised description of sexual bliss and Arthur's with brass and clarinet is atub-thumping hymn. But the songs serve only to resurrect in their minds ghosts from the past and as the fog descends each of the keepers becomes convinced that he is being claimed by the Beast. They prepare to meet its dazzlingeyes which become the lights of the relief vessel and the three men reappear as officers met at the lighthouse only by an infestation of rats. They leave and at the end the last hours of Blazes Sandy and Arthur begin to playover again.Study Score. Duration c. 1h 25mins.

Corpus Christi With Cat And Mouse is a setting of fragments selected from the Richard Hill Commonplace Book an early 16th century manuscript in the library of Balliol College Oxford. Commissioned by the Master andFellows of Balliol College to commemorate the centenary of the death of Benjamin Jowett Master of Balliol 1870-1893 this work was first performed by the Chapel Choir of Balliol College conducted by Mark Dawes in November1993.For unaccompanied SATB choir. This vocal score includes a piano accompaniment for rehearsal purposes.

Advent Calendar by the Master of the Queen's Music Peter Maxwell Davies sets the text of the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams .  The work for SATB and Organ was commissioned by The Choirbook Trust for inclusion in the Choirbook for the Queen published to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen in 2012.

A Choral Suite for Two Part (Soprano and Alto) Children's Chorus setting the text of George Mackay Brown. This enchanting 12-minute cycle is typical of the subtle and delicate way Maxwell-Davies approaches writing forchildren: straightforward tender affectionate yet with just a hint of the complexity found in challenging 'adult' works like the cycle Westerlings. George Mackay Brown's poetry with its haiku-like short stanzas and pointillisteallusive imagery leaves you constantly intrigued : who is the boy 'lost on the hill till sundown' and why is time 'a bird with white wings?' Is this perhaps the poet himself playing a bit of holiday truant?

A Selkie Tale is a short music-theatre work (duration about 25 minutes) designed for performance by seven- to eleven-year-olds year olds. Four solo roles and several separate chorus groups give scope for the participation of alarge number of children of all ability levels.The story is a humorous version of the Orkney folk-tale of an islander kidnapping a Selkie wife - a creature who is a seal in the sea and a woman on the land. Things gohilariously wrong with the Selkie wife escaping to rejoin her companions in the sea and Mansie the islander facing a most uncongenial alliance with his cousin and housekeeper Miss Trowie-Tattibogle.Vocal score.This isa special item which is made to order. Please e-mail our Mail Order Department for further information.

This short opera (duration of 50 minutes) aptly designed for children to perform with modest resources is a version of the familiar tale though with certain adaptations. Cinderella is an au pair girl who arrives on the scene bytrain and there are three ugly sisters who get their just deserts in marriage to the appalling leaders of the armed forces. Writing for children in the Orkney Islands Davies has also included some local references: these can bechanged to suit other times and places. Musically the piece is a bright sequence of little songs choruses dialogue scenes and dances probably best suited to children between the ages of eight and twelve though the parts of theugly sisters can usefully be taken by boys with broken voices.Text only.Duration c. 50mins.