Output details

Ave Maris Stella. CD recording of chamber music by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Gemini. Ian Mitchell (clarinet, director).

This CD is of music by Maxwell Davies, with Mitchell playing clarinet, and presents premiere recordings of two relatively recent works and a performance of his major and most challenging chamber piece, Ave Maris, written in 1974, plus a less substantial piece written the year before. The only previous recorded performance of Ave Maris has numerous inaccuracies, ensemble issues and poor recording quality. This unconducted performance set out to clarify the musical content, ensure secure ensemble and offer an improved sound quality, leading to new insights for composers, performers and all those interested in the music of Maxwell Davies. Three works on the CD use Davies’s adaptation of parody techniques, but in very different ways; one is a highly decorative approach surrounding the almost ever-present psalm with imaginative instrumental colourings; Ave Maris uses the plainchant as source material for a most elaborate and substantial compositional process that nevertheless allows the listener to be continually aware of the musical inspiration, however, unlike the psalm setting it is far from overt much of the time; the string trio is based on a Greek Byzantine hymn that is hidden from the ear.The recording project followed from public performances, and an association with the composer going back 40 years, and involving both performances and workshops. The two previously recorded works on the CD are from the early 1970s; the others from 2000 and 2002 for comparison of style stretching over a nearly 30 year period. The recording project was initiated and led by Mitchell, who also commissioned the scholarly text.