Composed in 2003 The Kestrel Road was jointly commissioned by forty-seven choirs all of which are members of Music Making a national society that links several thousand amateur choirs and orchestras. This work wascommissioned as a tribute to mark the seventieth birthday of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and was performed nationwide throughout the 2004/5 season.The Kestrel Road is a song-cycle for SATB Choir and Piano settings ofpoems by the ‘Bard of Orkney’ George Mackay Brown (1917-96). The poems are highly evocative of Orkney life history and folklore with shepherds crofters fisher folk a laird a scarecrow King Barleycorn and the timeless figureof Ikey the Tinker who passes through many of Brown’s poems seemingly linking past and present. According to Maxwell Davies the music is suggestive of the ‘elusive land and seascapes’ of the islands and is much influenced bythe local folk music.

Advent Calendar by the Master of the Queen's Music Peter Maxwell Davies sets the text of the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams .  The work for SATB and Organ was commissioned by The Choirbook Trust for inclusion in the Choirbook for the Queen published to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen in 2012.

Peter Maxwell Davies' 1994 work for unaccompanied SATB choir using text from George Mackay Brown's 1971 poem A Hoy Calendar.A girdle round the year in five minutes. In twelve clear simple images George Mackay Brown'spoem turns through the months of Orkney life and as it turns so the modal music for a modestly able school or amateur choir moves it on its way with images of matching lucidity.Vocal score with piano accompaniment forrehearsal purposes.

For unaccompanied SATB chorus to words by George Mackay Brown.Composer Note:In setting George Mackay Brown’s acrostic lines for the birth of Lucy Randall (the first child borne in Rackwick Hoy for 32 years) I set myself the uncharacteristic problem of banishing all ‘black’ notes – that is the work used only the ‘white’ notes on the piano – a symbolic ‘conceit’ I had not tried before. The music has the gentle rocking rhythm suitable for its purpose and I enjoyed writing the tune so much I repeated all of the text in order to hear it twice. -Peter Maxwell Davies

Job (Vocal Score)-A substantial work for four soli SATB chorus and orchestra using text from the translation of Stephen Mitchell's The Book Of Job. Like Vaughan Williams in his Job: A Masque for Dancing Davies was inspired inpart by William Blake's 21 engravings for the Book of Job. His oratorio however is less dependent on find parallels for Blake's visual details given the direct poetry in David Lemon's adaptation of the Stephen Mitchelltranslation from the biblical original it is hardly surprising that the spotlight should be so much on Job's suffering litany. The baritone has the lion's share of the setting though the other soloists occasionally reinforce hisplea and chorale-like episodes universalize his predicament. Davies frames with work with two seminal plainsong-like passages; there is also plenty of dramatic contrast both within Job's monologues and in the vivid orchestralwriting for the smarmy Comforters the initially shrill God who finally appears out of a dazzling orchestral whirlwind and the animal life he uses to illustrate the wonders of creation to a humbled Job.Commissioned by theUniversity of British Colombia it was first performed in May 1997 by Valdine Anderson (soprano) Linda Maguire (mezzo soprano) Paul Moore (tenor) and Kevin McMillan (baritone) with the Vancouver Bach Choir and the CBC VancouverOrchestra conducted by the composer.Vocal score with piano reduction of the orchestral score. Duration c. 70mins.

This Christmas cantata is an uncanny recapture by Maxwell Davies of a relatively simple modal style: luminous sometimes plaintive sometimes rapturous. A linked series of George Mackay Brown settings designed to give pleasure (ifsometimes strenuous pleasure) to a non-professional choir. A spiritual mystery is glimpsed in an Orcadian setting. Commissioned by the London Symphony Chorus to commemorate its 30th anniversary with additional funds from theArts Council of Great Britain.The first performance was given in October 1995 by the London Symphony Chorus and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox.Vocal score.

text from Christmas Poem by George Mackay Brown. Par DAVIES PETER MAXWELL. As Master of the Queens Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has written a new carol for Her Majesty the Queen each Christmas since his appointment began in 2004. Kings and Shepherds is the fourth and like An Heavenly Song, Wonder Tidings and The Yule-tide Bell, will be published as part of the Schott Royal Collection. Written for the 2008 Christmas service and performed in the Ballroom of Buckingham Palace, Kings and Shepherds is a short traditional setting of Christmas Poem by George Mackey Brown, a poet who lived near to Maxwell Davies on the Orkney Islands. A wonderful addition to the carol repertoire and ideal for amateur choirs looking to programme new pieces./ Recueil / Choeur Mixte SATB

Sweet was the song was composed in 2003 as a commission from the Hampstead Chamber Choir and their then director Eamonn Dougan. It is a short and simple SATB setting of a familiar Christmas text.The Novello New Choral Series is an inspiring selection of new works from a range of contemporary composers offering pieces for all types of choirs including sacred and secular works from simple four-part settings to more expansive yet accessible repertoire in an exciting variety of styles. This collection is perfect for choirs looking to broaden their repertoire and explore some of the best new music around.Thomas Hyde(b.1978) studied at Oxford University where he gained a doctorate in composition in 2008 and the Royal Academy of Music. His teachers have included David Matthews Simon Bainbridge Peter Maxwell Davies and Robert Saxton. In October 2008 he was appointed Lecturer in Music at Worcester College Oxford and since September 2009 has been visiting lecturer in composition at City University London. Prizes include finalist in English National Opera’s young composer festival ‘New Visions New Voices’ (1992) the National School Band Association Prize (1993) and a Wingate Scholarship (2004-5). His music is performed regularly in Britain at festivals including Spitalfields City of London Presteigne Deal and Little Missenden as well as abroad and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Recent works have included a string quartet for the Allegri Quartet and the one-man opera That Man Stephen Ward for the Hampstead & Highgate Festival.

As a lily among thorns was composed as a wedding present for Katie Johnston and John Hillier in March 2004. It was performed at their marriage in Christ Church Cathedral Oxford and later performed publicly by Commotio directed by Matthew Berry. The words are taken from the Song of Songs.The Novello New Choral Series is an inspiring selection of new works from a range of contemporary composers offering pieces for all types of choirs including sacred and secular works from simple four-part settings to more expansive yet accessible repertoire in an exciting variety of styles. This collection is perfect for choirs looking to broaden theirrepertoire and explore some of the best new music around.Thomas Hyde (b.1978) studied at Oxford University where he gained a doctorate in composition in 2008 and the Royal Academy of Music. His teachers have included David Matthews Simon Bainbridge Peter Maxwell Davies and Robert Saxton. In October 2008 he was appointed Lecturer in Music at Worcester College Oxford and since September 2009 has been visiting lecturer in composition at City University London. Prizes include finalist in English National Opera’s young composer festival ‘New Visions New Voices’ (1992) the National School Band Association Prize (1993) and a Wingate Scholarship (2004-5). His music is performed regularly in Britain at festivals including Spitalfields City of London Presteigne Deal and Little Missenden as well as abroad and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Recent works have included a string quartet for the Allegri Quartet and the one-man opera That Man Stephen Ward for the Hampstead & Highgate Festival.

Maxwell a écrit cette pièce minuscule pour le petit choeur de son Festival St Magnus, avec un accompagnement de cordes plaine. Il fonctionne absolument magnifique et son texte (en latin) nous rappelle que, parfois, nous devrions profiter de la musique avec un coeur simple: 'La richesse peut être le vôtre, la sagesse aussi, et vous pouvez avoir la beauté, mais si l'orgueil de les toucher, tous se tournent vers crasses. / Choeur Mixte (SATB) Et Orchestre A Cordes

A work for SATB soli SATB chorus and orchestra using a variety of texts selected by Alistair Grant who commissioned the work to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Jacobite rising (1745-6). It was first performed inOctober 1997 in Glasgow by Lisa Tyrrell (soprano) Margaret McDonald (mezzo soprano) Neil Mackie (tenor) and David Wilson-Johnson (baritone) the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus (chorus master Ben Parry) and the ScottishChamber Orchestra conducted by the composer.Vocal score with piano reduction of the instrumental score. Duration c. 40mins.

This motet for unaccompanied SATB choir was commissioned for the 500th anniversary of King's College Cambridge. This is a setting in Greek of an Orthodox prayer to Christ as Son and Word God and Man risen and saving. The prayeris led by a solo tenor and sung mostly by the men with the upper voices entering only for an appeal to Wisdom (sofia) and the final alleluia.It was first performed in 1991 in King's College Chapel by the choir of King's Collegeconducted by Stephen Cleobury.