A whole generation
of listeners were not even born when
this music came out on LP.
As this is the first
release in CD format, it will open the
ears of a completely new audience who
have hitherto been forced to beg illegal
copies from those who still have the
long unavailable originals. Those with
an extensive collection will welcome
the chance to get a less fragile CD
version.
O magnum mysterium
was written in 1960, when the composer
was teaching school at Cirencester.
Since the theme is the wonder of the
Nativity, the childlike simplicity is
entirely apt. It is almost like a medieval
play, in which enthusiasm and piety
mean more than technical skill. The
second Sonata, Lux fulgebit,
is dramatic, almost like ritual music.
The basic theme, O magnum mysterium,
is performed first by solo soprano,
then soprano and alto, then with four
voices.
Three of the Seven
In Nomine expand themes by Renaissance
composers, while three others are entirely
original creations. The first develops
a theme of Taverner, while the second
and third, are much more individual.
The fourth and sixth return to early
music, but it is the fifth that is the
pivotal centre of the work. The composer
describes it as a "realisation
of circular canon, with the plainsong
on a cross inside a circle", almost
as if he were setting a graphic shape
to music. Mathematicians sometimes refer
to the "music" inherent in
their work, a concept that Maxwell Davies
would understand.
A far more elaborate
and ambitious piece is the Second
Fantasia on John Taverner's ‘In Nomine’,
scored for full orchestra. The composer
says it sprang from his opera, Taverner,
because he wanted to develop the musical
ideas beyond what might be possible
on stage and in drama terms. The musical
ideas seem to morph from one to another,
shifting shapes, blending together and
transforming. Antichrist also
springs from this period. This
short work starts with a "medieval"
theme, but soon dissolves, to the sound
of clanging bells, into a dialogue between
percussion and plucked strings.
With Missa Super
‘L'Homme Armé’, Maxwell Davies
extended the idea of deconstruction
and rebuilding. A fragmentary Mass is
juxtaposed with medieval popular music,
and distortions thereof, including bits
of pre-recorded music played in performance.
As the pieces cross, they set off new
patterns of inventiveness. The dividing
line between sacred and profane, modern
and ancient blurs as the music comes
into its own.
In 1971 Maxwell Davies
moved to a remote croft in the Orkneys.
The spartan landscape, its mysterious
past and its very remoteness inspired
a new stage in the composer’s creative
evolution. He met the poet George Mackay
Brown, whose Fishermen with Ploughs
provided the text for Maxwell Davies'
From Stone to Thorn. Mary Thomas,
who created the piece on the recital
stage, uses her voice like an exotic
instrument. In comparison, the orchestration
is fairly conventional, by the composer’s
standards. The dramatic outburst by
clarinet towards the end serves to highlight
the complexity of the voice part. In
the miniature Lullaby for Ilian Rainbow,
the guitar takes on what might often
be the vocal role.
Maxwell Davies’ identification
with Orkney runs very deep, not only
in his music but also in his sponsorship
of the Stromness Festival and commitment
to the islands' preservation. The recording
ends with The Hymn to St Magnus, based
on a twelfth century manuscript. It
begins with an adaptation of the original
hymn, opening out to the complex, dramatic
Sonata Prima which seems to evoke the
seascape and the ancient legend. In
the Sonata Seconda, the whole panoply
of percussion bursts forth in a controlled
cacophony, underpinned by strings and
clarinet. It is as if the bells of church
litany, ships bells at sea, bells as
signals of distress and of worship,
were all participating in a grand theatric
vision. When Mary Thomas's voice joins
in, repeating the phrase "St Magnus,
Pray for us", it is like a mystic
incantation.
This is a very fine
reissue which highlights key stages
in the composers development and will
perhaps be complemented by further reissues
of important material.
Anne Ozorio
Vanessa Redgrave (speaker), Mary Thomas
(soprano) Timothy Walker (guitar), The Fires of
London, conductor: Peter Maxwell Davies 