Classical Music

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ ballet Caroline Mathilde premièred in 1991 and has been highly acclaimed ever since. Its story concerns the tragic marriage of Caroline to Christian VII of Denmark and is cast in a musical language that embraces expressionism, drama, parody, and overt lyricism. The two concert suites chart the young queen’s fall from grace and her eventual banishment into exile. Chat Moss is a richly textured tone poem, while by contrast the Ojai Festival Overture is a lively and extrovert concert piece reflecting Maxwell Davies’ fondness for American landscape and culture. Recorded between 1991-95 and previously released by the now defunct Collins Classics, the Naxos label has been consistently lauded in the musical press for making available once again these and many other recordings by arguably the greatest British composer of the second half of the 20th c., that, in some cases, remain the only recordings of these works.

Music for mixed ensembles has been a feature of the music of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies from the very beginning, as has the use of earlier musical styles ranging from a few years before to centuries earlier.

Peter Maxwell Davies is universally acknowledged as one of the foremost composers of our time, and is currently Master of the Queen' Music.

Conductor Simon Crawford-Phillips leads the Västerås Sinfonietta on their new concept album; 'Scotland'. The principal work is Mendelssohn's famous 3rd Symphony; the 'Scottish'; coupled with two interesting contemporary works with strong bonds to Scotland: Helen Grime's "Elegiac Inflections"; and Peter Maxwell Davies' 'Strathclyde Concerto No. 10'.

This is the second disc of works focusing on Peter Maxwell Davies’ continuing artistic relationship with the Ceccanti family. The Second Strathclyde Concerto is notable for its eloquently expressive cello lines and the composer’s signature transparency of orchestration. The Sonata ‘Sequentia Serpentigena’, written for Vittorio, was inspired by early medieval stone carvings in Tuscany and uses Gregorian chant to bring the serpent’s symbolism of temptation and betrayal to life. The Little Tune for Vittorio is a song based on an original theme in a Scottish folk style.

Chamber music formed the central part of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ output in his later years, and the marvellously poised and largely introspective Sonata for Violin Alone, dedicated to Duccio Ceccanti, is among his final works. Also cast in a single movement, the Sonata for Violin and Piano is a fantasia that traces an imaginary walk through Rome, while the Piano Trio takes us on the lyrical wings of plainsong to the remote and craggy beauty of Fair Isle near the composer’s home in Orkney. The acclaimed Ceccanti brothers worked closely with Maxwell Davies, performing many premières of his music.