This work was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was first performed on 2nd May 2000 at the Barbican Centre London conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies. Duration c.23 minutes. Peter Maxwell Davies: The hornwriting is extremely virtuoso throughout not least in exploring the full range of the horn from the deepest notes in the bass normally exclusive to an orchestral fourth horn player to the highest most exposed sostenuto of afirst horn soloist presenting here challenges of embouchure and sheer stamina I should think fairly unprecedented.Solo part and piano reduction on sale (CH61758) Conductor's score and orchestral parts available for hire.

This work written by Maxwell Davies in 1983 for chamber orchestra was commissioned to celebrate the quartercentenary of Edinburgh University. The first performance was given by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by EdwardHarper in October 1983. Duration c. 29mins.This work was thought through in outline following a visit to the ruined pre-Reformation church of Hoy in Orkney on a fine Spring afternoon after Maxwell Davies had played theharmonium for the tiny congregation in its large bleak Victorian replacement. The old church was surrounded by the graves of centuries the more recent ones with familiar names largely of people who lived in houses now ruinous crofters fishermen clerics sea-captains. Next to it stood the chief farmhouse the Bu going back to Viking times. He thought of the lives and deaths encompassed there expressed through hundreds of years of music in thechurch and in the big barn of the farm.The plainsongs ‘Dies Irae’ and ‘Victimae Paschali Laudes’ are used throughout the work the first concerning the Day of Judgement from the Mass for the Dead the second particular toEaster Sunday and the Resurrection. These are subject to constant transformation the intervallic contour slowly changes from one into the other and their notes are made to dance through Renaissance astrological ‘magic square’patterns.The orchestra consists of double woodwind two horns two trumpets and strings.

This work was commissioned by the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. First performance on 22nd August 2009 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus given by Daniel Hope (violin) and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig conducted by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

Miniature Score.This work was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was first performed on 13th May 1998 London. This piece is based on a genuine old tune 'Maxwell's Strathspey' which the composer found inan 1824 collection of Scottish melodies and which unfolds at the start of the piece on solo cello. Variations and a bold up-tempo to the quick dance we know as a reel ultimately yield to the magic that has been promised right atthe start: the northern lights take over at the end of the piece. Its inspiration comes from a walk to a community event in Hoy Hall during which Davies saw the lights in the sky pulsing in and out of time with the sounds comingfrom the hall. Duration 12 minutes. Conductor's score and orchestral parts are available on hire.

Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1350-Study Score - Hawkes Pocket Score1350. Maxwell Davies

Spinning Jenny is a portrait of Leigh Lancashire circa 1948 and one of a series of occasional pieces inspired by Davies' youth in Salford. Spinning Jenny Street was a noisy hazardous street clangerous with industry andactivity when davies was at Grammar school in 1945. A modest work but one which reflects many aspects of the place period and people it was inspired by. Commissioned by the BBC it was first performed on 21st July 199 as partof the BBC promenade concert at the Royal Albert Hall by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Davies himself. This is the miniature format of the full orchestral score..

Orchestral study score. This work was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was first performed on 23 April 1997 by Stewart McIlwham and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer. The threemovements should be played without a break.The piccolo may have obvious limitations as a solo instrument but Davies is not one to shirk a challenge. What he does is to play with the stereotypical modes of the instrument sothat the military ?pipe and drum? effect is hinted at near the beginning of the third movement while the jaunty manner is recalled at the close of the first but as through a veil. A potentially comic partnership with the bassclarinet is also dignified when the two instruments engage in meditative dialogue in the second movement. Solo part and piano reduction on sale. Conductor's score and orchestral parts are available on hire.