Peter Maxwell Davies

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is universally acknowledged as one of the foremost composers of our time and as he reaches his 75th birthday in 2009 he remains prolific.The sonata for violin and piano was wr...

Composed in London and Italy but inspired by Scottish fiddle writing, Max's sonata for solo violin is a reflective work that is both exuberant and nostalgic - a fantastic show piece from one of the UK...

When Haydn was not around, there was always Charles Dibdin (1740-1814) who regaled London with his songs at the same period. Davies's arrangement of four of them makes an amused but also affectionate...

Opening simply with a solo voice, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Italian settings of eight poems by Renaissance artist Michelangelo for baritone and piano take both the performers and audience on a strikin...

A cantata for tenor and chamber orchestra, with words from The Well by George Mackay Brown and a German translation by Gunther Bauer Schenk. The centre-piece of a chamber orchestra trilogy (see also S...

For Children's voices and Orchestra. Commissioned by the BBC for the BBC Proms. First performance in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen on 19th July 2006, in the Royal Albert Hall, London, by the B...

Lyric opera in two acts. Libretto by David Pountney. Commissioned jointly by the Royal Academy of Music, London, UK and The Juilliard School, New York, USA. UK premiere: 18th March 2011 - Royal...

Peter Maxwell Davies' 1979 work for mezzo-soprano, baritone and orchestra, commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, who gave the first performance in May 1992 at the Royal Festival Hall, with Simon...

Composer's Notes:Dove, Star-Folded was written at Christmas, 2000, in memory of the recently deceased Sir Steven Runciman, who had been a friend for more than thirty years. It was he who owned the sma...

A dreamlike and evocative work from Peter Maxwell Davies for flute and orchestra. The piece captures the wonder and sanctuary of the composer's home, surrounded by seabirds and seals that fire the ima...

This work was commissioned by the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. First performance on 22nd August 2009, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, given by Daniel Hope (violin) and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducted...

Max wrote this tiny piece for the small chorus of his St Magnus Festival, with a plain string accompaniment. It works absolutely beautifully and its text (in Latin) reminds us that sometimes we should...

This is the sacred comedy among Davies' pieces of music-theatre. Brought on by a children's wind band in a 7/8 march, the juggler presents himself at an abbey and is accepted by the abbot, the only si...

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 co...

The task: to write a piece that could involve children as players, singers and composers alongside a professional symphony or chamber orchestra. The solution: a peace-cry for the biosphere, in which t...

A ballet in two acts which premiered on the stage of the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, on 14th March 1991. Based on the true story of the sister of George III, Caroline Mathilde (1751-1775), who a...

The story centres on the English princess Caroline Mathilde (1751-1775), sister of George III, who at the age of 15 was sent to Denmark to marry the 17-year-old eccentric and schizophrenic Danish King...

Orchestral work for school orchestra A short tone-poem which will let a school orchestra glow. Characteristically, Davies finds ways to engage and stretch young players while staying within the bounds...

In 1971 Davies adapted the original Sandy Wilson music, and wrote some of his own, for Ken Russell's film of The Boy Friend. The music, like the film, goes way over the top in reviving the style of th...

A ghost story telling of the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in the Hebrides. This is a mystery story in the form of a chamber opera. The prologue is set as a court of enquiry int...

An attractive short piece for Nativity which makes an ideal concert item, for unison voices and piano (with words by George Mackay Brown), commissioned by The Times for Christmas 1993.