12:00:00 Jan 31, 2007 |
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Any attempt to define the output of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, produced over more than six decades, demands an appreciation of its sheer breadth and abundance - from the mainstream European modernism identified in his music of the 1950s, the dramatic iconoclasm noted as characteristic of works from the 1960s, the naturalistic soundscapes created after his move to Orkney in the early 1970s, and the implicit classicism of the series of symphonies and concertos that span the 1980s and 1990s. This extends now to a body of 'light' music, including the popular An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise (1985) and Mavis in Las Vegas (1997), whose overt embrace of dance styles seems a world away from the disturbing incorporation of foxtrots in St Thomas Wake or Eight Songs for a Mad King ( both1969).
Even so, there is an integrity to Davies's approach that has been conscious and thorough-going: the development of a strong and personal compositional technique at the service of artistic communication and the active engagement of performers and audiences. Formative in this were studies with Petrassi in Rome (1957-9) and Sessions in Princeton (1962-4), between which Davies taught at Cirencester Grammar School, writing the first of his works for children and amateur performers (notably the carol sequence O Magnum Mysterium, 1960, and later the children's opera Cinderella), a sector to which he has maintained a regular commitment throughout his career. The urge for theatrical expression initially found focus in works for the Pierrot Players (later the Fires of London) - including Vesalii Iconesa (1969), in which a solo dancer reinterprets the Stations of the Cross through the anatomical drawings of Vesalius, and Miss Donnithorne's Maggot (1974), a monologue representation of Dickens's prototype for Miss Havisham - bearing later fruit in full-scale operas, Taverner (1970), The Martyrdom of St Magnus (1977), The Lighthouse (1980), Resurrection (1988) and The Doctor of Myddfai (1995), and ballets, Salome (1978) and Caroline Mathilde (1990).
The particular qualities of light, land and sea associated with Orkney leave their first aural traces in pieces such as Hymn to St Magnus (1972) and Stone Litany (1973), and continue through orchestral textures to the series of Orkney Saga works, begun in 1997. Seven numbered Symphonies (1976-2000) and an Antarctic Symphony (2000) explore concerns for large-scale structural coherence following the 20th century's disengagement with tonality (to which Worldes Blis, 1969, is an earlier and impressive response). This corpus is to be counterbalanced by a late concentration on chamber music, which includes a piano trio (A Voyage to Fair Isle, 2002). and Clarinet Quintet, 2004 and is crowned by a cycle of Naxos String Quartets (commenced 2002), and a variety of other liturgical pieces with and without accompaniment.
Through numerous and prestigious conducting engagements in Europe and the USA, Davies maintains direct and telling contact with those for whom his generous profusion of works is created, and for which he has won admiration and recognition worldwide. His succession of honours continued in March 2004 with the appointment as Master of the Queen's Music. The composer sees this as an opportunity to raise the profile of serious music in the broader community and to meet new challenges in seeking to algin public expectations with artistic vision. His fulfilment of the role to date has featured the large-scale Commemoration Sixty, written to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Following his collaborations with the Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, plans are afoot to another joint piece to mark the 60th birthday of Prince Charles in 2008.
This is a copyright note, and may not be reprinted or reproduced in any way without prior negotiations with Peter Owens.
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