Читать книгу The Collins Guide To Opera And Operetta - Michael White - Страница 57
Оглавление(1934–)
Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969)
Taverner(1968)
The Martyrdom of St Magnus(1976)
The Lighthouse (1979)
The Doctor of Myddfai (1996)
Born in Manchester, Peter Maxwell Davies was one of a small circle of composers (including Harrison Birtwistle) who studied there together and collectively reacted against the broad conservatism that prevailed in 1950s British music. Davies established himself as a leading figure of the avant-garde with works which subjected medieval borrowings to highly complex 20th-century processes derived from the twelve-tone systems of Schoenberg and his followers. From the first he was interested in writing for the theatre; and with his own performance group The Fires of London he developed a style of small-scale but hard-hitting music theatre typified by Eight Songs for a Mad King, which is effectively a miniature opera for one voice and accompanying instruments. Davies’ earlier works specialise in extreme emotional states and shock tactics, their subject matter homing in on issues of betrayal and the exposure of hypocrisy. But he has also written many, gentler works for children; and since he made his base the remote Scottish Orkney Islands his music has been influenced by the natural features of a bleakly beautiful landscape. Hugely prolific, his output includes six symphonies and large, programmatic orchestral scores.
