Peter Maxwell Davies
An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise
Born in 1934 in Manchester, England, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is known for
his energetic, eclectic compositions and the breadth of his musical idiom,
embracing everything from serialism to expressionism, foxtrots to pavanes. He
attended Manchester University and the Royal Manchester College of Music,
graduating in 1956, then studied with Goffredo Petrasi in Rome, where he wrote
his first orchestral work, Prolation (1958). He has been an active music
educator, working as Director of Music at Cirencester Grammar School in England
from 1959-62, Composer-in-Residence at the University of Adelaide in Autstralia
from 1965-66, and Artistic Director of the Dartingon International Summer School
in England from 1979-84. His interest in theater led him to form a contemporary
music performance group called "The Pierrot Players" with fellow
Manchester graduate Harrison Birtwistle in 1969, premiering Davies's Eight Songs
for a Mad King that same year. The work, which portrays the madness of King
George III, demonstrates Davies's theatrical flair, requiring the musicians to
perform in cages like King George's own pet bullfinches. Davies has written
concertos, operas, movie scores, and eight symphonies, called "the most
important symphonic cycle since Shostakovich" by The Times of London. He
has also worked steadily as a conductor, spending ten years as
Composer/Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. He
was knighted in 1987, and was appointed Master of the Queen's Music in 2004.
In 1971 Davies moved to Hoy, one of the Orkney islands off the northern coast
of Scotland. The dramatic landscape of the islands profoundly affected the
composer, who writes that there is "no escape from yourself here, you just
have to realize what you are through your music with much more intensity than in
urban surroundings." Many of the works written after his move find
inspiration in the islands, including his Symphony No. 3 (1984), whose second
movement was sparked in part by the sight of a steep Orkney cliff-face thronged
by circling seabirds. He wrote An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise that same year,
finding a different sort of inspiration at the wedding of a friend in Hoy. The
music is strongly programmatic; Davies calls it a 'picture postcard' and
describes it as follows:
"The wedding party arrives at the hall out of violent weather. There
follows a processional, after which the band tunes up for a wedding dance which
builds to an inebriated climax. The guests leave the hall with echoes of the
processional music in their ears, while the sun, personified by the full
splendour of highland bagpipes, rises over Caithness."
Davies's 'violent weather' is evident in the lashing string figures that open
the piece. These quickly subside to an oboe solo reminiscent of Celtic and
Gaelic folk tunes, soon taken up by clarinet, flute, and other woodwinds.
Dancing begins in earnest with the strings, interrupted by a somewhat tipsy
tuning session, then followed by dances in various moods from raucous to
military to gentle (the latter featuring an extended solo for first violin).
These dances fall in and out of sync as the orchestra reaches its 'inebriated
climax.' Having marked the guests' entrance, the oboe now denotes their
departure into the early morning. Great brass swells announce coming of the
sunrise, and a bagpiper enters the hall and processes to the stage. The work
closes in triumphal brilliance.
October, 2006
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