Maxwell Davies - Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot, Eight Songs for a Mad King | Unicorn Kanchana DKPCD9052

Maxwell Davies - Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot, Eight Songs for a Mad King

£15.15

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Label: Unicorn Kanchana

Cat No: DKPCD9052

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 13th May 2016

Contents

Artists

Mary Thomas
Julius Eastman
The Fires of London

Conductor

Peter Maxwell Davies

Works

Davies, Peter Maxwell

Eight Songs for a Mad King
Miss Donnithorne's Maggot

Artists

Mary Thomas
Julius Eastman
The Fires of London

Conductor

Peter Maxwell Davies

About

In repertoire terms, this Unicorn release is unrivalled. Peter Maxwell Davies’ exploration of extreme mental states finds the Fires of London and Mary Thomas in fine fettle.

'Eight Songs for a Mad King' is a monodrama by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies with a libretto by Randolph Stow, based on words of George III. The work was written for the South-African actor Roy Hart and the composer's ensemble the Pierrot Players, and premiered on 22 April 1969. Lasting half an hour, it is scored for a baritone, with an extraordinary command of extended techniques covering more than five octaves, and six players. The songs derive from tunes played by an extant mechanical organ owned by George III, tunes that he attempted to train bullfinches to sing. Miss Donnithorne was an Australian lady, apparently one of the models for Miss Havisham in Dickens's Great Expectations; jilted at the last minute, she became a recluse, and Davies's piece discovers her ranting among the remnants of her wedding cake, which is decorated with instrumentalists. Like the mad king, she has eight songs. 'Miss Donnithorne's Maggot' was premiered by these artists in Adelaide in 1974. A true testimony to the late composer’s art.

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