Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016)

[San Antone]

Explain what happened then. What purpose does their abrasive, hard-to-crack music serve? They make the liner notes full of stuff like it reflects the sea but it's not RVW Sea Symphony/NRK Scheherazade good depictions of the sea. If it's not for complexity's sake, what is it for then?

I've read some about Brian Ferneyhough's ideas about why he writes such as he does. 

There is an aspect he is going for which is a product of writing music which approaches the limit of human capability.  But the idea of what a musician can play is similar to the limits of athletic accomplishment.

For years the 4 minute mile was considered the fastest a human could run, but it was not long until that record was broken.  Pushing human endurance and capability in sports as well as music is something some find inspiring.

Ferneyhough has said that he doesn't really expect his music to be performed note-perfect (at least as of the time he published it), but he is very interested in the performance that results from a group of musicians trying their best to play the music as notated.

John Cage wrote the Freeman Etudes for the violinist Paul Zukofsky (commissioned by Betty Freeman in 1977).  Zukofsky asked Cage for music that would be notated in a conventional manner, which he assumed Cage was returning to in Etudes Australes, and as precise as possible. Cage understood the request literally and proceeded to create compositions which would have so many details that it would be almost impossible to perform them. In 1980 Cage abandoned the cycle, partly because Zukofsky attested that the pieces were unplayable.

However, Violinist Irvine Arditti expressed an interest in the work and, by summer 1988, was able to perform Books I and II at a much faster tempo than anyone else, thus proving that the music was, in fact playable. (info taken from the Wikipedia article)

[Mandryka]

I really don't know. It does feel a bit like complexity for complexity's sake. Same goes for a lot of the avantgardists. Schnittke's music, while complex, has heart, has empathy. Whereas I feel that's missing from the likes of PMD, Birtwistle, Boulez et al.

In the case of Birtwistle, of course some of it (The Mask of Orpheus for example)  is stage music and demands not only to be seen but to be studied. In the purely musical pieces, maybe the music is complex to play, but I don't feel complexity as a listener -- what I appreciate is hard to explain. Somehow it's "alive" - alive because it's so innovative. Here, try this Antiphonies for piano and orchestra, it's one of the pieces I like the most

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srLidQOIBpg

or this sensual piece, The Grimethorpe Aria

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaqB_q6t6P4

[Mandryka]

Any recommendations on the naxos quartets?  Which is the best of the series or the first one to jump into?

https://www.talkclassical.com/threads/the-maxwell-davies-quartets.81512/?post_id=2365282#post-2365282


Possibly helpful.

[Mandryka]

Why is PMD being singled out? Pretty much all modern music is complex and dissonant. A

I'm not sure I agree with that. IT may be was true 20 or 30 years ago, but I don't think it's true any longer.

[foxandpeng]

Why is PMD being singled out? Pretty much all modern music is complex and dissonant. And besides complexity isn't bad, no? Not that I am enthralled by his music but I've seen this being said for some other composer too so it's puzzling to me. Perhaps PMD's complexity isn't alluring unlike others'...

I really appreciate PMD, but it would be fair to suggest that in a world of dissonance and complexity, he is is both dissonant and complex on a large scale.

[Spotted Horses]

In my limited exposure I wasn't struck with complexity of the music, but a sprawling character without explicit form, in which a narrative thread is difficult to tease out, but maybe you don't have to.

[Mandryka]

Any recommendations on the naxos quartets?  Which is the best of the series or the first one to jump into?

I suggest you listen to the second movement of the 7th quartet, S Giovanni dei Fiorentini.

[Mandryka]

Anyone managed to digest Pappano's 10th symphony?

[foxandpeng]

Anyone managed to digest Pappano's 10th symphony?

The verdict on PMD #10 is still unclear, for me, at least. Like all of the extant symphony recordings, PMD's 10 takes patience. I don't really know what to make of his attempts to pay homage to Borromini (either here or in his Naxos Quartet 3). Is his music reminiscent of Borromini's architectural style? Who knows?

I know it is entirely personal, but baritone and other vocal contributions to symphonic work doesn't endear me.

Where that is absent, I find greater interest.

[Mandryka]

Wise chap. Nørgård pips him, I think, but not by much.

What do you make of 6, which seems very easy going to me? I've only just discovered it. 8 also seems rather fine

[foxandpeng]

I like both 6 and 8 very much. I think 6 is perhaps my preferred PMD symphony. It is certainly amongst the most accessible... all require repeated listens, of course. For me, at least.

[Mandryka]

I like both 6 and 8 very much. I think 6 is perhaps my preferred PMD symphony. It is certainly amongst the most accessible... all require repeated listens, of course. For me, at least.

Yes, I'm really impressed by 6. My radar is telling me that it's "great" music.

Why is there no good book on PMD? Has anyone seen Richard McGregor (ed.) Perspectives on Peter Maxwell Davies?