Format : Study Score / Miniature
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.
SKU: HL.14021017
ISBN 9780711984677. 5.5x7.5x0.082 inches.
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 horn writing 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 a first 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.
SKU: HL.14008415
UPC: 884088808242. 8.5x11.0x0.261 inches.
This work, written by Maxwell Davies in 1983 for chamber orchestra, was commissioned to celebrate the quartercentenary of Edinburgh University. The first performance was given by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Edward Harper in October 1983. Duration c. 29mins. This work was thought through in outline following a visit to the ruined pre-Reformation church of Hoy in Orkney, on a fine Spring afternoon after Maxwell Davies had played the harmonium for the tiny congregation in its large bleak Victorian replacement. The old church was surrounded by the graves of centuries, the more recent ones with familiar names, largely of people who lived in houses now ruinous - crofters, fishermen, clerics, sea-captains. Next to it stood the chief farmhouse, the Bu, going back to Viking times. He thought of the lives and deaths encompassed there, expressed through hundreds of years of music in the church, and in the big barn of the farm. The plainsongs 'Dies Irae' and 'Victimae Paschali Laudes' are used throughout the work - the first concerning the Day of Judgement, from the Mass for the Dead, the second particular to Easter Sunday and the Resurrection. These are subject to constant transformation - the intervallic contour slowly changes from one into the other, and their notes are made to dance through Renaissance astrological 'magic square' patterns. The orchestra consists of double woodwind, two horns, two trumpets and strings.
SKU: HL.14008426
ISBN 9780711942042.
The solo flute here is kept in high profile by the absence from the orchestra not only of other flutes, but also of violins and oboes; in addition, the trumpets are used sparingly (they do not, for instance, play in the slow movement), so that for much of the time the flute is playing against a mellow ensemble of clarinets, horns, bassoons and low strings. If this is, nevertheless, one of Davies's most open-spirited pieces, that comes partly from the ready flights of the soloist, partly from its glockenspiel accompaniments in the outer movements (replaced by ticking claves in the Adagio), partly from the dancing character of so much of the music, and partly from the harmonic clarity, in a light region not far from C minor. Flute part with piano reduction of the orchestral score.
SKU: HL.14020992
ISBN 9780711936805. 9.0x12.0x0.185 inches.
Unusually for him, Davies starts his Bassoon Concerto not with slow music but with speed and brilliance: the opening is a Presto, initiated by the strings, and only at the entry of the soloist does the tempo relax to that of a real introduction. Out of this grow a big dancing Allegro. The slow movement begins and ends with a simple song, around fantastical ornamentation from the soloist. The finale is again a recitative and dance, with a slow coda. The whole work is an immense show of stamina, poetry and athleticism for the bassoon, set against an orchestra coloured by low wind (alto flute, clarinet in A, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, horns). Bassoon part with piano reduction of the orchestral score.
SKU: HL.14020998
ISBN 9780711930766. UPC: 884088435059. 5.5x7.5 inches.
A short piece for small orchestra, written in 1989 when the composer heard of Michael Vyner's death. Premiered in October 1989 at Glyndebourne Sussex, by the London Sinfonietta and conducted by the composer just six days after Vyman's death. Approximately six minutes in duration, it is based on the plainsong 'Cor meum et caro mea exultaverunt in Deum vivum' and is scored for two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings.
SKU: HL.14021038
ISBN 9780711991248. 5.5x7.5x0.148 inches.
Peter Maxwell Davies' Swinton Jig was inspired by his youth spent in Salford. These variations on a traditional melody portray the community spirit during wartime and the impromptu concerts and dances held within the air shelters. The instrumentation reflects this, with banjos, bells, bones and horns, and even an out of tune upright piano! This work was commissioned by the BBC and first performed in November 1998 by the BBC Philharmonic. In miniature pocket score format.
SKU: HL.48011278
UPC: 073999246179. 5.5x7.5x0.252 inches.
HPS 1209.
SKU: IS.BC6925EM
ISBN 9790365069255.
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies on the music of Marc Yeats: Marc Yeats’ musical voice is quite unlike anything else; the music is challenging to both performers and audiences, and very communicative. He produces extraordinary compositions that not only look and sound good, but demonstrate a very high level of academic learning, while being breathtakingly original. This composition was written for bass clarinet soloist Sarah Watts, who did extensive research on bass clarinet multiphonics. This piece is a great illustration on the integration of multiphonics in contemporary music.