SKU: HL.14008406
ISBN 9780711948716.
A work for solo violin and orchestra, commissioned by Donald McDonald for the 21st birthday of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the 60th birthday of the composer. It was first performed in November 1993 in Glasgow, by James Clark and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Maxwell Davies. The spell is one quoted by George Mackay Brown in his book An Orkney Tapestry: 'Let not plough be put to acre except a fiddle cross first the furrow.' Davies's dancing concerto imagines the fiddler following a route from field to field, from dance to dance, accompanied by a bunch of companions in the form of an orchestra. As the music goes on, so it gets brighter and livelier, moving from the dark colouring of clarinets, bassoons and strings to full ensemble with prominent brass and (solo) tuned percussion, as if the dancers as much as the fields were beginning to glow with new life. Score (miniature). Duration c. 20mins.
SKU: BT.EMBZ14893
The concerto was inspired by István Várdai's play and is dedicated to him. The triple movement structure and the character of the movements follow the patterns of classical concertos, while the thematic connections spanning the movements rather reflect the structural principles of Romantic symphonies. In the first movement, which resembles the form of a sonata, the characters of the themes are spectacularly separated. The motif of the main theme, constructed with glissandos, is supplemented by a theme the composer refers to as a motif of fate, and the two together form a significant contrast with the minor theme with its lyrical tone and the playful, ending themeresembling a children's song. The contrasts between depth and height, as well as darkness and light, have a significant role in all three movements. The music of the first movement gradually rises to increasingly bright and higher regions, the gloomy atmosphere of the marginal parts in the second movement is offset by the tune's transcendental light in its central part, while the rondo theme of the third movement with its 6/8 metre dance-like character is supplemented with motifs of a contrasting nature from the earlier movements.
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