Violin and Orchestra
(Score)
SKU:
HL.14008406
Composed
by Sir Peter Maxwell
Davies. Music Sales
America. 20th Century.
Book [Softcover].
Composed 1999. 94 pages.
Chester Music #CH60978.
Published by Chester
Music (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.
Don MacDonald
