Customer Reviews (1)

wonderfully atmospheric
This is a wonderfully atmospheric book, and a most unusual one, mingling stories, legends, evocative places, poems, description, customs and beautiful pictures into a marvellous whole which represents the Orkney Islands better than any other book I know. The writer was George Mackay Brown and the excellent illustrator Sylvia Wishart, whose black and white drawings add a great deal to the book's appeal. It was the book which drew the composer Peter Maxwell Davies to the Islands - eventually he bought a house there, at Rackwick Bay on Hoy, leading to well over twenty years of productive islands-based work and the foundation of the St. Magnus Festival. It somehow catches the presence and the spirit of the Islands, so that you are there even as you read it on Mainland Scotland, or mainland anywhere for that matter. It bears rereading well, and every time there is something new in it. Actually, it's quite a difficult book to describe, and it occurs to me that the title word, 'Tapestry', is just about perfect - a beautiful and complex whole woven out of many harmonious strands. It is a wonderful book.

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Written by:Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane "almac1975" on 20 April 2007
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2009 marks the 75th birthday of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, an occasion that presents an opportunity for reflection upon, and appreciation of, a period of compositional achievement that extends from the 1950s to the present. This book forms part of that reflection through a statement of the current condition of research on Maxwell Davies's music. Detailed analytical discussions of individual works, such as the opera Taverner and the First Symphony, coexist with broader issues and perspectives, including Davies's own writings about music, his engagement with sonata form, the compositional source, problems of text, and the situating of this music within and in relation to 'modern times'. The book describes selected works from all periods of Davies's rich and diverse career, resulting in a portrait of the music that, while it may be incomplete, reveals the essence of this remarkable composer and his music. ... Read more

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Written with the subject's co-operation, this is a biography of the British composer, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Over the last three decades he has produced an extraordinary range of music, from children's pieces and film-scores for Ken Russell, to the symphonic cycle from the riotous "Orkney Wedding" to the gruesome "Eight Songs for a Mad King". Yet all of Maxwell Davies's works are stamped with his own individuality and craftsmanship, and - unusually for a modern composer - his music appeals to the experienced musician and the layperson alike. Dividing his time between his Orkney retreat and London, he is also in constant demand as a conductor, and was the instigator of the celebrated St Magnus Festival on Orkney. Published in the year of Maxwell Davies's 60th birthday, the book offers an account of a colourful life, for anyone drawn to his accessible and inventive music. The author writes regularly for several classical musical journals. ... Read more

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Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is one of Britain's most distinguished composers. This source book documents as much of the material on his music as is available to 2001. As Richard McGregor points out in his foreword to the volume, Stewart Craggs has made valuable advances in sorting out the origins of many unknown works and gleaning details of many private compositions. The book also supplies details of those unknown works which haven't appeared in any previous catalogues, including broadcasts of early works from the BBC Archives. With information given on first performances, manuscript locations and recordings, in addition to details of composition dates, authors/librettists, durations, commissions and dedications amongst much else, this book is a key reference source for all those interested in Peter Maxwell Davies and his music. ... Read more

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For anyone wishing to understand Peter Maxwell Davies's compositional techniques and the evolution of his style, this volume offers a range of writings about the composer and his work. A helpful bibliography is included. ... Read more

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A guide to the music of Britain's most prominent living composer, this volume contains the most complete listing available of Davies's works (unpublished as well as published) plus a comprehensive discography and a bibliography of nearly 1,000 items. Each entry is keyed to the discography and the annotated bibliography. There is also a brief biography. Maxwell Davies is extremely prolific, with nearly 300 compositions to his credit so far. He is also a conductor of distinction. This work will be of interest to scholars and students as well as anyone interested in 20th-century composers. ... Read more

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The "Musical Entertainments" series consists of short music-theatre works written for performance by children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. Focusing on singing and making music, the performance also gives opportunity for acting, miming and making sets and costumes. The plays are between 15 and 25 minutes long. Each package in the series includes a teacher's book, which contains an introduction to the work, the lyrics and the full musical score, and a parts book, containing the music parts for photocopying. The introduction in the teacher's book provides a brief guide for those teachers who have little or no experience in dealing with these kinds of activity. There are tips on how to handle such a production, including notes on the music, singing, orchestra and staging. In "Dangerous Errand", Pat learns that being kind to animal friends helps overcome bullies, witches and darkness on an adventurous journey. Going shopping has never been less straightforward. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Modern Language Review, published by Modern Humanities Research Association on October 1, 2002. The length of the article is 7746 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The interaction between the avant-garde and totalitarianism in 1920s Germany is illustrated by Johannes R. Becher's version of the poem '150 000 000' by Soviet author Vladimir Mayakovsky. Becher's version is a personal interpretation that provides insight into his aesthetic reasons for committing himself to the Communist Party.

Citation Details
Title: 'Eine Sprechmaschine bin ich': Johannes R. Becher's version of Majakovskij's 150 000 000.(Critical Essay)
Author: Peter Maxwell Davies
Publication: The Modern Language Review (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 2002
Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association
Volume: 97Issue: 4Page: 892-908

Article Type: Critical Essay

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This work was commissioned by Alistair Grant to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the second Jacobite rising (1745-6).It was first performed on 15th October 1997 at the City Halls, Glasgow, conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies. Scored for Soprano, Alt

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Pocket score 24mo 5.5 x 7.5 ins 16pp stapled wraps. ... Read more

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London, Boosey & Hawkes, 1988 pocket score 24mo 5.3 x 7.3 ins 95pp wraps. ... Read more

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The solo flute here is kept in high profile by the absence from the orchestra not only of other flutes, but also of violins and oboes; in addition, the trumpets are used sparingly (they do not, for instance, play in the slow movement), so that for much of

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Chapters: Edward Elgar, Arnold Bax, Arthur Bliss, Peter Maxwell Davies, Malcolm Williamson, William Shield, Walford Davies, John Stanley, William Boyce, Maurice Greene, John Eccles, William Cusins, George Frederick Anderson, Nicholas Lanier, Walter Parratt, Louis Grabu, Nicholas Staggins, Franz Cramer. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 122. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 23 February 1934) was an English composer. He is known for orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed oratorios, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924. From a modest background, and, as a Roman Catholic in Protestant Britain, Elgar was seen, by himself and others, as an outsider. He nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British army officer. She inspired him both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve success until into his forties, when after a series of moderately successful works his Enigma Variations became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the variations with his choral work, The Dream of Gerontius, based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some unease in the Anglican establishment in Britain, but it became and has remained a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full length religious choral works were well-received but have not entered the regular repertory. In his fifties Elgar composed a symphony and a violin concerto that were immensely successful; his second symphony and his cello concerto did not gain immediate public popularity, and took many years to achieve a regular place in the concert repertoire...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=10085 ... Read more