Peter Maxwell Davies

Davies's feeling for the potency and bravura of the clarinet goes back to works of the 1960s; his concerto for the instrument is predictably a big ranging piece in two linked movements. The first fast with a brief slowintroduction has the soloist in propulsive melodic flights slipping over into florid runs but it is a virtuoso piece for the orchestra especially for the marimba and pair of horns. The Adagio that follows is in the spare cold birdcall-riven style of other recent Davies slow movements exploiting first the clarinet's low register and then at its climax the instrument's high extremes. A cadenza leads to the coda where Davies introduces a Scots tune previously hinted at with which he brings the work to an end in F sharp major.Miniature score.

If Davies's Cello Concerto has already evoked comparisons with Elgar's that is perhaps an indication not only of its wealth of solo melody (there is hardly a page where the cello is not singing or if not that thendancing) and of its predominantly slow tempos but also of its musical stature. This second Strathclyde concerto is a virtuoso piece for the entire ensemble which is used almost throughout as a clutch of soloists rather than asa tutti block. The general tone is one of passionate but interior dialogue especially in the opening Moderato and the slow movement; and though the finale is more extrovert the work ends back in quietness and rumination.

This work was commissioned by Alistair Grant to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the second Jacobite rising (1745-6). It was first performed on 15th October 1997 at the City Halls Glasgow conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies. Scored for Soprano Alto Tenor and Bass solo Chorus and orchestra. Duration c.40 minutes. Vocal score on sale Conductor's score and orchestral parts on hire.

Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1119-Study Score - Hawkes Pocket Score 1119. Davies Pm.

The guitar for Davies seems to be an updated lute and like his Elizabethan and Jacobean predecessors he finds the sound of plucked strings suited both to dancing and to contemplation. The outer movements of this short sonataare quick the first being in clear ABAB form with a short recitando introduction the finale being a kind of hobbledehoy galliard. In between comes a slow movement of counterpoint and ornament.Duration c. 11mins.

Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1350-Study Score - Hawkes Pocket Score1350. Maxwell Davies

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.

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.