|
Peter Maxwell Davies’ Litany for a ruined chapel between sheep and shore is at once the most sustained display of virtuosity and, paradoxically, the stillest piece on this disc. The title suggests a prayer, but a prayer rooted in the landscape (of Davies’ Orkney home, perhaps), and the sublimated dance-forms of the work’s three-movement sonata structure contain a stillness within even their most complexly elaborated rhythmic patterns. It is as if the music, outwardly effortful, were striving towards grace, and listeners familiar with Davies’ earlier Trumpet Concerto – where the soloist represents St Francis – may imagine the present piece to be recreating the same role in miniature.
© 2007 John Fallas
[from the booklet notes to Knight Errant: solo music for trumpet (Mark O’Keeffe; Delphian Records, 2007)]
for more information, to reproduce any material from this website, or to commission new articles or programme notes, please contact jfallas @ worldisnow . co . uk (no spaces) |
|
![]() |