The string parts for Peter Maxwell Davies’ fourth in a series of ten string quartets commissioned by the Naxos Recording company.

The Full Score for Peter Maxwell Davies’ fourth in a series of ten string quartets commissioned by the Naxos Recording company first performed by the Maggini Quartet on 20th August 2004 at the Chapel of the Royal Palace Oslo Norway as part of the Olso Chamber Music Festival. Composer Note: The fourth Naxos quartet was written in January and February of 2004 with the intention of producing something lighter and much less fierce than itspredecessor an unpremeditated and spontaneous reaction to the illegal invasion of Iraq.I returned to the well-known Brueghel picture of children's games (1560 now in Vienna) which had been the inspiration for my sixthStrathclyde Concerto for flute and orchestra. These illustrations liberated my musical imagination but I feel it would limit the listener's perception to be too specific about which game relates to exactly which section of thework. Suffice it to say that there is vigorous play - leap-frog bind the devil with a cord truss wrestling - alongside quieter pastimes - masks guess whom I shall choose courting odds and evens. The single movementjuxtaposes these activities as abruptly and intimately as they occur in Brueghel. Rather as the eye is taken into different perspectives and proportions of scale within the picture taking liberties which would never be presentin for instance Brunelleschi architectural drawings so here with a constant sequence of transformation processes I have distorted the neat precise implications of modal progression expressed in the unison opening phrase(from F to B through A sharp/B flat) so that the ear is led en route into the sound equivalents of strange passageways and closed rooms: sicut exposition ludus. As work on the quartet progressed I became aware that Iwas reading into and behind the games adult motives and implications concerning aggression and war with their consequences. It was impossible to escape into innocent childhood fantasy. The nature of the F to B

The set of parts for Maxwell Davies's Naxos Quartet Six for strings. This work was commissioned by the Naxos Recording Company and is the sixth in a series of ten quartets. It was first performed on 26th April 2005 at the PurcellRoom London by the Maggini Quartet.

This work was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate its 40th birthday. The first performance took place in June 1986 at St. Magnus' Cathedral Kirkwall as part of the tenth St. Magnus Festival.Writtenfor and first performed by Isaac Stern Davies's Violin Concerto brings together two streams in his music: symphonism and folk-fiddling. In its strongly developed substance it asks to be measured in the company of Beethoven Brahms and Sibelius while there is also particularly in the middle movement a strong element of the Scots lament. The orchestra is generally muted in colour though there is a dramatic role for the timpanist.There are threemovements played without a break - this is only one of many connections with the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.Duration c. 30mins.

Commissioned by the Nash Ensemble in 2014, String Quintet is one of Maxwell Davies' last works. This intense chamber work is filled with his characteristic harmonies which give the melody and harmony it's ambiguous, continually searching quality. The work is constructed through the gradual accretion of instruments, harmonic richness and ever increasing height and depth in texture. / Quatuor De Cordes

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.

This work was commissioned by Bath International Music Festival and BBC Radio 3. It was first performed on 30th May 2011 at the Assembly Rooms Bath by Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian Pipes) Joanna MacGregor (Piano) and theNavarra String Quartet.

This unaffected but effective piece is a homage to the late Marjorie Linklater a much-loved friend from Orkney and a charming set-piece for violinists of moderate ability. The slow introductory adagio serves the function of afond elegy proving the simple effect of moving between D minor and D major. It serves the songful quality of the violin as does the wistful central episode of the main sequence; but an exuberant love of the dance is the essenceof the allegro with the high bright sonority of the instrument very much to the fore. It was first performed by Julia Robinson Dean at the St Magnus Festival Orkney on 21st June 1998. Arranged for solo violin. Durationc. 4 minutes.

An eight minute ensemble composition for Violin Viola and Cello premiered in january 2001 by Marcia Crayford at the St.Columbus Church in London. The piece is based on a Greek byzantine hymn and features a short seriesof transformations. The opening phrase has a tangential flow of reflective thought and the end is calm and wrapt reflecting the titles inwardness.

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 a large 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 go hilariously 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.Violin part.This isa special item which is made to order. Please e-mail our Mail Order Department for further information.

This work was a test piece for the International string Quartet competition in 2005 Premio Paulo Borciani It was inspired by a keyboard piece of the same name A Sad Paven for these Distracted Tymes by Thomas Tomkins(1572-1656). Tomkins had a long association with Worcester Cathedral where he was organist - appointed magister choristarum in 1596 - and lived within the precincts until shortly before his death. At the same time he wasorganist of the Chapel Royal. When the city of Worcester surrendered to Cromwell's parliamentary forces in 1646 Tomkins had to watch the hasty dismantling of his cathedral organ and the abolition of all choral services. Thesewere the 'distracted tymes' of the 'sad paven' which he wrote in enforced retirement at Worcester.

This work was commissioned by the Strover family for the Maggini Quartet on the occasion of Rosalind Strover’s 100th birthday. It was first performed by the MagginiQuartet on 5th November 2004 at Stoke-by-Nayland Country Club Essex.