Peter MAXWELL DAVIES (b. 1934)
Caroline Mathilde – Ballet
Act I: Concert Suite (1991) [25:08]
1. I. A Public Square [3:43]
2. II. Inside the Castle [5:19]
3. III. The Queen’s Chamber [2:48]
4. IV. The Royal Chambers [13:19]
Act II: Concert Suite (1992) [37:34]
5. I. A Public Square [2:48]
6. II. The Conspiracy [4:10]
7. III. The Masked Ball – Court Dance [4:31]
8. IV. The Masked Ball – Pas de deux [6:28]
9. V. The Arrest [5:12]
10. VI. The Execution [5:13]
11. VII. The Exile of Caroline Mathilde [9:11]
Chat Moss (1993) [5:36]
Ojai Festival Overture (1991) [5:35]
BBC Philharmonic/Maxwell Davies
rec. live, Cheltenham Town Hall, 47th Cheltenham International Festival of Music, 12-13 July 1991; by arrangement with BBC North, Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester, 1994/5
NAXOS 8.572358 [73:53]
Caroline Mathilde was a success when it was first
performed at the Kongelige Theater (The Royal Theatre) in Copenhagen in 1991.
The story in itself is fascinating. The young English princess Caroline Mathilde
(1751–1775) sister of the king-to-be George III, was sent to Denmark
when she was 15. She was to marry her 17-year-old cousin Christian VII, who
was schizophrenic (the mad King) and endured an unhappy marriage. She had
a love affair with the King’s physician Struensee and in the end they
were both arrested. He was executed and she was exiled and separated from
her two children. In passing I just want to mention that this story has been
the subject for a latter-day Danish opera, Bo Holten’s Livlægens
Besøg (2008) (The Physician-In-Ordinary's Visit). The Holten work
is based on a novel by Swedish author Per Olov Enquist, Livläkarens besök
(1999).
Peter Maxwell Davies’s music is eclectic – I don’t use the
word in a pejorative sense; rather he gets impulses from various directions
that he amalgamates into something personal. Sometimes it is pastiche-like,
as in the opening of Act I, A Public Square. It sounds more medieval
than late 18th century, but never mind. It is charming and light-hearted
to begin with but harsh undertones soon creep in. When the opening music returns
it is spiced with dissonance. Inside the castle depicts a rather
ambivalent mood with some beautiful solo playing – French horn in particular
– and flute. In The Queen’s Chamber the composer introduces
a lovely pastoral tune, played first by the oboe, then in a minor version
by the English horn – a true English rural idyll is depicted. The
Royal Chambers opens with a beautiful dance-like tune with flute and
harp. After a while this is interrupted by the timpani and brass, playing
distorted quotations from the pastoral tune heard earlier. The oboe tries
to retain the pastoral feeling but the cello silences it with a gloomy cantilena
– the idyll is broken for ever. This long scene is a sorrowful symphonic
poem, which works well without references to the ballet. It grows to a magnificent
tragic climax.
At the opening of the second act we are again at a public square, but not
the same as before. This is dramatically suggestive music, a little like a
movie score, distinctive thematic material and a prominent trumpet —
a modernized Shostakovich, perhaps. The Conspiracy is hymn-like but
alluring. During the masked ball that follows we hear fanfares and festive
music, promenading, slightly pastiche-like again, and Shostakovich pops up
once more. The Pas de deux is lucidly and airily orchestrated with
a notable role for the harp. Darkness falls after a while and in the end this
becomes a weird dance, far from any pas de deux one can imagine.
The arrest is threatening and intensely dramatic and at the execution
drums and muted trumpets herald the cruel event. The Exile of Caroline
Mathilde is gloomy with soft strings and off-stage singing, a mood that
persists until the end. The BBC Philharmonic play well under the composer
in music that I have returned to on numerous occasions the last twenty years.
The ‘fillers’ are also highly attractive. Chat Moss is
a short symphonic poem for amateur orchestras, sprinkled with instrumental
solos, melodically and rhythmically attractive. There is some truly jazzy
feeling.
Ojai Festival Overture is more virtuoso and technically challenging.
It is a scherzo-like piece full of high spirits. The trio section has beautiful
oboe solos. This overture is highly entertaining.
Excellent recording and generous playing time make this a very attractive
buy for lovers of moderately modern music.
Göran Forsling
Previous review: Stephen
Barber
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