Peter Maxwell Davies: Two Little Quartets: String Quartet

Album comprising short pieces, each written in honour of a living composer. Three are scored for piano quintet, the other for piano quartet.For Michael (piano quintet) was composed in 2004 to mark Michael Berkeley's departure as Artistic Director of the Cheltenham International Festival of Music. For Max (piano quintet) dates from the same year and was written to celebrate the birthday of Peter Maxwell Davies. For Sally (piano quintet, 2006) is dedicated to MacMillan's friend Sally Beamish. Chant for John (piano quartet, 2007) was performed at a concert to mark the retirement of John Casken as Professor Music at Manchester University. Duration from two to four minutes each. / Quatuor De Pianos

This short opera (duration of 50 minutes) aptly designed for children to perform with modest resources is a version of the familiar tale though with certain adaptations. Cinderella is an au pair girl who arrives on the scene bytrain and there are three ugly sisters who get their just deserts in marriage to the appalling leaders of the armed forces. Writing for children in the Orkney Islands Davies has also included some local references: these can bechanged to suit other times and places. Musically the piece is a bright sequence of little songs choruses dialogue scenes and dances probably best suited to children between the ages of eight and twelve though the parts of theugly sisters can usefully be taken by boys with broken voices.Text only.Duration c. 50mins.

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