for piano quartet. Par DAVIES PETER MAXWELL. The two nocturnes were composed immediately after major surgery, against a deadline, and, despite the music sounding unlike anything I have written before, I decided to keep them exactly as they turned out. 2010 is a Chopin year, and I made this pair of nocturnes into a little tribute, after playing through and listening to most of his output. Never before had I composed under these drugged conditions – the musical dimensions were enormously exaggerated, with each interval and each phrase being elongated out of all proportion, and the whole few minutes filling the whole of time and space. The orchestration, for piano quartet, was influenced by the very neo-classical feel of the chamber version of the concertos, and the harmonic language very much the result of pondering Chopin’s very individual take on J.S Bach. They are dedicated to James MacMillan and Amelia Freedman respectively. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (2010)/ Répertoire / Piano, Violon, Alto et Violoncelle

Point de départ est une collection de quatre morceaux écrits pour le Club de violon de Sanday. Tout d'abord réalisés dans leur intégralité en 2006 au St Magnus Festival, les noms de la musique sont des noms de lieux sur les îles Orcades. Evocateur et sans prétention, le caractère attrayant et la souplesse de ces oeuvres reflète leur genèse. Ils sont adaptés à des fins diverses et peuvent être jouées par le Quatuor à cordes et ensemble à cordes. Accessible par la norme et de style, dans la mesure où ils sont ancrés dans la communauté qu'ils forment une illustration de l'engagement de Maxwell Davies avec sa localité, où il vit depuis les années 1970. / Ensemble A Cordes (Quatuor A Cordes)

Military March #2 was composed by Peter Maxwell Davies for the Royal Society of Musicians. This item includes the full score and individual parts for this wonderful work, arranged for String Quartet.Lasting around two minutes, this work was first performed on the 3rd of March 2015 by the Sacconi Quartet, at the Wigmore Hall in London, as part of the 20th Annual Jacqueline Du Pré Charity Concert. / Quatuor A Cordes

The Full Score for Peter Maxwell Davies’ fourth in a series of ten string quartets commissioned by the Naxos Recording company first performed by the Maggini Quartet on 20th August 2004 at the Chapel of the Royal Palace Oslo Norway as part of the Olso Chamber Music Festival. Composer Note: The fourth Naxos quartet was written in January and February of 2004 with the intention of producing something lighter and much less fierce than itspredecessor an unpremeditated and spontaneous reaction to the illegal invasion of Iraq.I returned to the well-known Brueghel picture of children's games (1560 now in Vienna) which had been the inspiration for my sixthStrathclyde Concerto for flute and orchestra. These illustrations liberated my musical imagination but I feel it would limit the listener's perception to be too specific about which game relates to exactly which section of thework. Suffice it to say that there is vigorous play - leap-frog bind the devil with a cord truss wrestling - alongside quieter pastimes - masks guess whom I shall choose courting odds and evens. The single movementjuxtaposes these activities as abruptly and intimately as they occur in Brueghel. Rather as the eye is taken into different perspectives and proportions of scale within the picture taking liberties which would never be presentin for instance Brunelleschi architectural drawings so here with a constant sequence of transformation processes I have distorted the neat precise implications of modal progression expressed in the unison opening phrase(from F to B through A sharp/B flat) so that the ear is led en route into the sound equivalents of strange passageways and closed rooms: sicut exposition ludus. As work on the quartet progressed I became aware that Iwas reading into and behind the games adult motives and implications concerning aggression and war with their consequences. It was impossible to escape into innocent childhood fantasy. The nature of the F to B

This work was commissioned by the Naxos Recording Company and is the seventh in a series of ten quartets. It was first performed on 19th October 2005 at the Wigmore Hall London by the Maggini Quartet.

This work was commissioned by Bath International Music Festival and BBC Radio 3. It was first performed on 30th May 2011 at the Assembly Rooms Bath by Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian Pipes) Joanna MacGregor (Piano) and theNavarra String Quartet.

This piece was written as a tribute to the people of Fair Isle a remote community that lies between Orkney and Shetland which is also the home of the composer. The work was composed for the Grieg Trio of Norway and reflect theensemble's virtuosity with striking cadenzas that showcase the performers. The music is rugged ever-changing and full of the energy of this unique landscape.

An eight minute ensemble composition for Violin Viola and Cello premiered in january 2001 by Marcia Crayford at the St.Columbus Church in London. The piece is based on a Greek byzantine hymn and features a short seriesof transformations. The opening phrase has a tangential flow of reflective thought and the end is calm and wrapt reflecting the titles inwardness.

The third in the series of ten Quartets commissioned by the Naxos recording company. First performed at Wigmore Hall London in Oct 2003 by the Maggini Quartet.

This work for cello and orchestra was commissioned by the Strathclyde Regional Council and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. It is the second of ten concerti to be written for principal players of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Thefirst performance was given in February 1989 by William Conway and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer.If Davies's Cello Concerto has already evoked comparisons with Elgar's that is perhaps an indicationnot only of its wealth of solo melody (there is hardly a page where the cello is not singing or if not that then dancing) and of its predominantly slow tempos but also of its musical stature. This second Strathclyde concertois a virtuoso piece for the entire ensemble which is used almost throughout as a clutch of soloists rather than as a tutti block. The general tone is one of passionate but interior dialogue especially in the opening Moderato andthe slow movement; and though the finale is more extrovert the work ends back in quietness and rumination.This book contains the solo cello part and a piano reduction of the orchestral score.

This work was a test piece for the International string Quartet competition in 2005 Premio Paulo Borciani It was inspired by a keyboard piece of the same name A Sad Paven for these Distracted Tymes by Thomas Tomkins(1572-1656). Tomkins had a long association with Worcester Cathedral where he was organist - appointed magister choristarum in 1596 - and lived within the precincts until shortly before his death. At the same time he wasorganist of the Chapel Royal. When the city of Worcester surrendered to Cromwell's parliamentary forces in 1646 Tomkins had to watch the hasty dismantling of his cathedral organ and the abolition of all choral services. Thesewere the 'distracted tymes' of the 'sad paven' which he wrote in enforced retirement at Worcester.