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Peter Maxwell Davies Naxos Quartets Nos. 9 & 10

These two quartets mark the end of a remarkable collaboration between Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and the Maggini String Quartet, namely the composition and performance of a cycle of ten string quartets within a five-year period, commissioned by the Naxos record label. As a member of the Maggini Quartet, Outram worked closely with the composer throughout the period of research underpinning these works and their performance. Maxwell Davies was present at early rehearsals, collaborated with the Maggini in public workshops on each quartet at Canterbury Christ Church University before the premieres, and was present at the recording sessions.

During this period Outram and the other members of the quartet developed an approach and strategy to enable them to realise the works’ technical and musical challenges. In addition to the usual individual preparation, extensive cueing was essential. Equally vital was the development of a response to the extremely complex rhythmic texture of the music. This meant thorough internalization of the musical landscape - an ability not merely to play individuals’ parts but simultaneously to mould it to the ongoing rhythmic complexity and frequently highly theatrical drama of the overall musical narrative.

Naxos Quartet No9 was uniquely challenging in that the composer chose to specify the speed and width of vibrato at various points. Additionally he expanded the intonational range of the quartet by writing in quarter tones in the March movement. In the fourth movement diatonic intervals of fourths and fifths are spanned via equal intervals of only three and four notes respectively. Naxos Quartet No10, although not technically as challenging, presented an interesting twist with the work being based on the idea of a Baroque suite, but using Scottish dances. This generated a ‘lighter’, more texturally open work.