Composer: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
Performer: Manchester Cathedral Choir, Manchester Cathedral Voluntary Choir, Manchester Grammar School Boys’ Choir
Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8572362
Release: 2014
Size: 248 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
The Beltane Fire
01. Scene 1: In the Barn of the Bu
02. Interlude I
03. Scene 2: A Field
The Turn of the Tide
04. Section I: I. The creation of underwater plants
05. Section I: II. The creation of plants on land
06. Section I: III. The creation of the first sea creatures
07. Section I: IV. The creation of birds
08. Section I: V. Mammals, and first people
09. Section II: I. The underwater plants flourish
10. Section II: II. The trees flourish
11. Section II: III. The prosperity of fish
12. Section II: IV. Bird migration
13. Section II: V. Instinct and intellect in mammals and mankind
14. Section V: I. The sea plants are poisoned
15. Section V: II. The trees are suffocated
16. Section V: III. The fish are deformed and cannot function
17. Section V: IV. The birds fall from the sky
18. Section V: V. Hubris triumphant
19. Section VI: The warning is heeded – Nature reborn – The decline is reversed
20. Sunday Morning
21. Threnody on a Plainsong for Michael Vyner
22. Sir Charles his Pavan
The works on this recording embrace a varied miscellany of Peter Maxwell Davies’ orchestral output from the early 1990s. The ‘choreographic poem’ The Beltane Fire pits the sternness of the Reformation clergy against the pagan traditions of the Orkney Islands. Concerned with environmental pollution, The Turn of the Tide ultimately reaches “a triumphant dance of all creation”, while the Threnody and Pavan are poignant memorial tributes for significant figures in the composer’s life.