Symphony No. 4 (Davies)

Symphony No. 4
by Peter Maxwell Davies
A golden eagle taking flight was one source of inspiration for the symphony
Based on	"Adorna thalamum tuum, Sion"
Dedication	John Tunnell
Recorded	April 1990 (1990-04)
Movements	4
Premiere
Date	10 September 1989 (1989-09-10)
Location	Royal Albert Hall, London
Conductor	Peter Maxwell Davies
Performers	Scottish Chamber Orchestra

The Symphony No. 4 by Peter Maxwell Davies was commissioned for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra by Christian Salvesen plc and composed in 1989. It is dedicated to the memory of the violinist John Tunnell, who had been leader of the orchestra, and was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on a BBC Promenade Concert on 10 September 1989, with the composer conducting the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Character and materials

The Fourth Symphony differs from its predecessors in several respects, but particularly for combining the conventional four movements into a single unit, similar to Arnold Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9, only on a larger scale. On the other hand, like Davies's earlier symphonies, the symphony stems from a mixture of a plainchant source on the one hand, and a moment in the composer's personal experience on the other. The plainchant "Adorna thalamum tuum, Sion", for a Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary (a processional chant with candles) is transformed by the composer into different but related sets of seven, nine, and ten notes, which are used as the basic pitch materials of the symphony. Such transformational treatment of plainchant melodies has been a characteristic of Davies's music since the 1957 sextet Alma Redemptoris Mater The second source was the haunting sight of a golden eagle taking flight at sunrise, which the composer did not attempt to portray literally.

Instrumentation

The symphony is scored for a scaled-down orchestra of two flutes (2nd doubling piccolo and alto flute), two oboes (2nd doubling cor anglais), two clarinets (2nd doubling bass clarinet), two bassoons (2nd doubling double bassoon), two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. These forces reflect Davies's exploration at that time especially of the symphonies of Haydn and Mozart, in his capacity as associate conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Analysis

The symphony is in four movements, though they are played without break:

1. Moderato
2. Allegro
3. Adagio
4. Andante – Allegro

The symphony begins with a sort of "ghost sonata" with a disguised recapitulation. A short Adagio transition at the end seems to be preparing for a following slow movement, a forecast contradicted by the actual nature of the second movement—a musical trompe-l'oeil or "contradictory anticipation". It is the first of a series of "one-sided parentheses" refracting the structure toward a series of three short, concentrated statements at the very end of the symphony.

The second movement unexpectedly proves to be a scherzo instead of the slow movement forecast by the transition from the end of the first movement. However, the Adagio third movement occurs instead of the expected central trio, and the scherzo "forgets to come back", being replaced by the finale.

References

Sources

• Davies, Peter Maxwell. 1992. Preface to Symphony No. 4 (score). Hawkes Pocket Scores 1203. London: Boosey & Hawkes.
• Owens, Peter. 1994. "Revelation and Fallacy: Observations on Compositional Technique in the Music of Peter Maxwell Davies". Music Analysis 13, nos. 2–3 (October): 161–202.
• Pruslin, Stephen. 1989. "Peter Maxwell Davies's Symphony No. 4". The Musical Times 130, no. 1759 (September): 520–521, 523.
• Pruslin, Stephen. 1991. Liner notes in booklet accompanying Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Trumpet Concerto; Symphony No. 4, 1–3. John Wallace (trumpet); Scottish National Orchestra (concerto); Scottish Chamber Orchestra (symphony); Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (cond.). CD recording. Collins Classics 11812. [UK]: Lambourne Productions Limited.
• Warnaby, John. 2001. "Davies, Peter Maxwell". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
• Wright, David. 1992. "Grace in Strength". The Musical Times 133, no. 1797 (November): 580–581.

Further reading

• Bye, Antony. 1991. "Maxwell Davies: Trumpet Concerto; Symphony No. 4. John Wallace (tpt); Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, c composer. Collins Classics 11812". Tempo, New Series, no. 177 (June): 57.
• Jones, Nicholas. 2002. "Peter Maxwell Davies's Basic Unifying Hypothesis: Dominant Logic". The Musical Times 143, no. 1878 (Spring): 37–45.
• McGregor, Richard (2000a). "Max the Symphonist". In Richard McGregor (ed.). Perspectives on Peter Maxwell Davies. Aldershot Hants., Burlington Vermont, Singapore, Sydney: Ashgate Publishing. pp. 115–137. ISBN 1-84014-298-7.
• McGregor, Richard. 2000b. "Reading the Runes". Perspectives of New Music 38, no. 2 (Summer): 5–29.
• Warnaby, John. "Peter Maxwell Davies's Recent Music, and Its Debt to His Earlier Scores". In McGregor (2000a), pp. 75–92.
• Whittall, Arnold. 1994. "The Bottom Line. Arnold Whittall Goes in Search of the 'Great Mystery' of Maxwell Davies, Who Celebrates His 60th Birthday This Month". The Musical Times 135, no. 1819 (September): 544–550.