Peter Maxwell Davies

Four Tunes from the Scottish Island of Sanday-Start Point is a collection of four tunes written for the Sanday Fiddle Club. First performed in their entirety in 2006 at the St Magnus Festival the names of the tunes are names of places on the Orkney Islands. Evocative and unassuming the appealing character and flexibility of these works reflects their genesis. They are suited to a variety of purposes and could be played by both string quartet and string ensemble. Accessible by standard and style to the extent that they are rooted in the community they form an illustration of Maxwell Davies' engagement with his locality where he has lived since the 1970s.

This work was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was first performed on 2nd May 2000 at the Barbican Centre London conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies. Duration c.23 minutes. Peter Maxwell Davies: The hornwriting is extremely virtuoso throughout not least in exploring the full range of the horn from the deepest notes in the bass normally exclusive to an orchestral fourth horn player to the highest most exposed sostenuto of afirst horn soloist presenting here challenges of embouchure and sheer stamina I should think fairly unprecedented.Solo part and piano reduction on sale (CH61758) Conductor's score and orchestral parts available for hire.

Job (Vocal Score)-A substantial work for four soli SATB chorus and orchestra using text from the translation of Stephen Mitchell's The Book Of Job. Like Vaughan Williams in his Job: A Masque for Dancing Davies was inspired inpart by William Blake's 21 engravings for the Book of Job. His oratorio however is less dependent on find parallels for Blake's visual details given the direct poetry in David Lemon's adaptation of the Stephen Mitchelltranslation 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 other soloists occasionally reinforce hisplea 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's monologues and in the vivid orchestralwriting 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 a humbled Job.Commissioned by theUniversity of British Colombia it was first performed in May 1997 by Valdine Anderson (soprano) Linda Maguire (mezzo soprano) Paul Moore (tenor) and Kevin McMillan (baritone) with the Vancouver Bach Choir and the CBC VancouverOrchestra conducted by the composer.Vocal score with piano reduction of the orchestral score. Duration c. 70mins.

Caroline Mathilde Act I (Concert Suite)-The story centres on the English princess Caroline Mathilde (1751-1775) sister of George III who at the age of 15 was sent to Denmark to marry the 17-year-old eccentric and schizophrenic Danish King Christian VII. The balletportrays her unhappy marriage the King's growing madness and her fatal love-affair with Struensee the King's influential physician which leads to their arrest his execution and her exile at the age of 20 separated from hertwo young children. In keeping with the period and perhaps also with the traditions of Romantic ballet the music is relatively simple in harmony and form and most of the action is conveyed in set-piece dances. The suite which consists essentially of the second half of Act I begins with one of these a bristling interplay of wind and string ensembles in D major portraying in the ballet a curious nuptial game with the king and princess on movablepedestals. The slow music that follows has to do with the king's healing by Dr. Struensee and the new queen's unquiet reverie (oboe and cor anglais solos). Then the suite like the act is capped by a pair of pas-de-deux thefirst savage and bizarre for the royal couple the second rich and passionate for the queen and the miracle-working doctor.Score (miniature). Duration c. 25mins.

This work was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate its 40th birthday and was written for Isaac Stern. The first performance took place in June 1986 at St. Magnus' Cathedral Kirkwall as part of the tenthSt. Magnus Festival. It was given by Isaac Stern and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn.This book contains the solo violin part and a piano reduction of the orchestral score.

First Grace Of Light was composed for Nicholas Daniel to perform at a concert in memory of janet craxton for BBC Radio 3 on 7th November 1991.

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.

Farewell to Stromness is a piano interlude from The Yellow Cake Revue a sequence of cabaret-style numbers against uranium mining in the Orkney Islands. The Revue was first performed at the St Magnus Festival Orkney by Eleanor Bron with the composer at the piano in June 1980.This performance inspired Timothy Walker to transcribe Farewell to Stromness for solo Guitar. He performed it two days later in Kirkwall Cathedral as part of the same festival.