Peter Maxwell Davies RIP

[A Lark Ascending]

Already mentioned in the classical listening thread but worth his own thread I thought.

Not surprising...he's been ill for a long time but still sad.

I first became aware of him around 1981 when I spent a couple of weeks in Orkney and reading around the culture there. Davies was central to that area for many years. Had a couple of LPs in the 80s but only really started to explore him when Naxos started to record recent compositions and put older ones back into the catalogue.

Something of an enfant terrible in the 60s/70s but he went on the compose a lot of music in more traditional idioms. Not easy to listen to but the symphonies have a cragginess about them that must connect with the many years he spent in remote parts of Orkney close to the sea (there's a great photo of him sat in a croft with a wind up gramophone with a giant sound horn - never seen it on the web...oh, just found an older one in b+w....

   )

Despite being 'hardcore' he also had a populist side, writing extensively for amateur and children's choirs. Things like 'Mavis in Las Vegas' are easy to listen to and a hoot. His short piano piece 'A Farewell to Stromness' and 'Orkney Wedding with Sunrise' regularly show up on the more popular classical music radio programmes. 

As far as I know only the first 6 symphonies plus the Tenth have been recorded. Surprised no-one has got around to the Eighth (Antarctic)...remember reading some tremendous reviews when it was premièred.

His fifth was done at the Proms a couple of years back, one I was lucky enough to attend. He came on stage to accept applause at the end.  

His website is a mine of information: http://www.maxopus.com/resources.aspx

RIP

Edit: Guardian Obituary: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/14/peter-maxwell-davies-british-composer-appreciation-andrew-clements

Edited March 14, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[BillF]

In the late seventies I taught a mature student who said he'd gone to school with Maxwell Davies in Salford. And in the same class were twin sisters called Runcie who were nieces of the Archbishop of Canterbury. No, this wasn't an Eton-type outfit - it was in a Further Education College in Warrington!

The only other "went to school with" story I can recall was from a young woman I met at Leeds University in the 60s who said she'd sat next to Myra Hindley in primary school. According to my informant, she was an entirely normal child.

Edited March 14, 2016 by BillF

[clifford_thornton]

RIP. He certainly was a heavyweight.

[A Lark Ascending]

For those with access to BBC TV there's a documentary going out on Friday 1st April:

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Master and Maverick

Looks like one of those things the BBC rapidly stitch together from their archives with Tom Service providing the commentary. At the very least there should be good scenery. 

There was a very nice radio appreciation by Service last week: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0742l1s

Might be about to vanish (it had a rebroadcast last Monday so I suspect its 7 days will be up tomorrow) so you'll need to be quick.