Peter Maxwell Davies - Symphony No.4; Trumpet Concerto

Peter MAXWELL DAVIES (1934-2016)

Symphony No.4

Trumpet Concerto*

John Wallace*

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Scottish National Orchestra*

Peter Maxwell Davies

Peter Maxwell Davies' close relationship with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra had a profound impact on his musical output, including, perhaps most notably, the composition of ten Strathclyde Concertos, each featuring one or more of the principal players in the ensemble. Likewise, his work as associate conductor/composer of the group provided Davies with an intimate perspective on the works of the Classical masters, instilling in him a desire to explore instrumental sonorities within the conservative resources of a Haydnesque or Mozartian orchestra. Composed in 1989 as a memorial to the group's former director, John Tunnel, Davies' Symphony No. 4 is a direct outgrowth of this undertaking, utilizing as it does scaled-down instrumental forces, but creating no less intense a musical experience. "This was just a continuation of the way that the symphonic thought was going -- it becomes more concentrated and focused," Davies tells us. "Writing for this kind of orchestra seems the most natural thing, and I feel that the Symphony No. 4 is no less concentrated or symphonic than the others -- it's just that its orchestral sound is not as loud."

The work draws freely upon two distinct inspirations, one musical, and one experiential. Like many of Davies' compositions, the Fourth Symphony incorporates plainchant materials; here Davies utilizes a version (taken from a manuscript source rather than the standard Liber Usualis) of a chant from the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, Adorna thalamum tuum, Sion (Adorn your bridal chamber, Daughter of Zion). The chant is sung during a solemn candlelight procession during the Feast Day (which, incidentally, corresponds with the composer's September 8 birthday). Davies here puts it through a rigorous series of transformations, the parameters of which he mulled over before even putting pen to paper. The more poetic inspiration for the symphony came to Davies early one morning as he stepped out onto his front porch to find himself caught in the stare of a golden eagle perched on his fence. "He took off," recalls Davies, "slowly unfolding a huge wingspan, floating upwards with an overwhelming grace-in-strength -- the while regarding me with icy disdain -- and moved slowly out to sea, against the rising sun. This vision has haunted me, and although the music does not attempt to portray the flight literally, I hope something of the reverberations of that extraordinary moment come through."

The Symphony No. 4 is cast in four movements, performed without interruption and structured according to Davies' characteristically playful subversions of formal traditions. The first, Moderato, broods throughout, and seems to wind down towards a slower second section; but this is only a ruse. The second movement Scherzo appears instead, which, coupled with the third movement's Adagio, seems to set up a scherzo-trio form. The former material fails to return, however, and the fourth movement begins right away, opening with an Adagio and then moving into a concluding Allegro. 

J. Neal