This is no ordinary
CD. "Custom Compilation" means
that I chose the programme and it was
made to order. This possibility has
been on the horizon for some time and,
for all I know, may be common in other
musical cultures but it doesn’t seem
to have impacted greatly on classical
music yet. This is my first experience
of it and a very positive one too.
For a major contemporary
composer, the music of Peter Maxwell
Davies ("Max") is grossly
under-represented in the catalogues
at the moment. Partly this is due to
the demise of the Collins Classics label
but, even so, I was very surprised to
find that he doesn’t feature in the
2003-4 Penguin Guide or
2004 Gramophone Classical Good CD
Guide. The facilities of his website
are now making amends.
I visited the site
in late October 2004 and was impressed
with the design and layout. As well
as custom-made CDs, there is also a
facility (which I haven’t tried) to
download individual pieces in various
formats at prices between £1 and £4
depending on duration. The price of
a custom-made CD is £6.85 plus 60p postage
and packing, and it is suggested that
the disc will take about 10 days to
arrive (mine took 7 days). Payment was
made by credit card, and I rapidly received
an acknowledgment and invoice by e-mail.
The process of building
a CD was straightforward. An
Orkney Wedding with Sunrise seemed
an obvious starter and I chose the Piano
Concerto as the main work. Having lived
in Glasgow in late 1980s when the Strathclyde
Concertos project was beginning,
I felt it was about time I caught up
with one of them. There was room for
No. 7 which is for Double Bass. This
seemed a particularly good idea as I
only have one other Double Bass Concerto
(Tubin’s). I decided to put this between
the other two works. The maximum time
allowed is 74 minutes and I had now
accrued just over 70 minutes. I was
feeling content but, helpfully, the
CD builder is intelligent and indicated
that I could still add the Threnody
for Michael Vyner – a three
and half minute work for orchestra.
And why not? It seemed logical to slot
it in between the concertos. Finally,
I needed to choose a title to be printed
on the spine ("Peter Maxwell Davies
– Piano Concerto etc.").
The presentation of
the disc is excellent and the booklet
also effectively custom-made. A blue
tinge on the playing side and a warning
not to expose to sunlight are the only
indications that the CD is not factory
made. The booklet contains 16 pages,
of which 13 are filled with detailed
notes about the pieces and performers.
I was slightly surprised that the three
left blank weren’t filled with a list
of the other works available on the
site.
So to the music. An
Orkney Wedding with Sunrise is
a delightful work full of good tunes
based on Scotch rhythms. There is a
positively thrilling moment when, towards
the end, the Highland Bagpipes enter.
The Double Bass concerto is a
more serious work in two movements,
the second of which has a slow introduction.
The full range of the instrument is
explored and the orchestral accompaniment
is fairly light. Threnody for
Michael Vyner was written as
a tribute to the manager of the London
Sinfonietta who died in 1989. It received
its first performance by that orchestra
under the composer just six days after
his death.
The Piano Concerto
of 1997 was written for Kathryn
Stott and is a work of major substance
– I am struggling to think of a finer
recent example of the genre. In three
movements, it has a demanding solo part
but is also often lyrical. The slow
movement is hauntingly beautiful. Apparently
Max’s initial thoughts were to model
it on Mozart’s concertos but it obviously
moved on a long way in the composition
process, with Bartók and Prokofiev
being acknowledged influences.
There is not much need
to say anything about all these performances
- they are essentially definitive. The
sound is fine without being in the demonstration
class and I suspect that has more to
do with the original masters than the
CD burning process.
Since I bought this
CD, the site has been updated and about
45 works of Max’s works are now available
including Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 5, 8
(Antarctic) and three of the
Strathclyde Concertos (Nos. 3,
7, 9). I’ll certainly be going back
to juggle programmes which might include
Lullaby for Lucy, the Trumpet
Concerto, Antarctic Symphony
and some of the piano music. I hope
you will be there too for this excellent
venture deserves every support.
Patrick C Waller
MAXOPUS CUSTOM COMPILATION [73:54]
