Peter Maxwell Davies' Arrangements IV

-- Liner Notes from 'Renaissance & Baroque Realisations' --

Tenebrae super Gesualdo (1972)

I ('Beats irregular')
Interlude
II (Moderato)
Interlude
III (Andante)
Interlude
IV (Slow)

This work consists of four meditations, in Maxwell Davies's own style, on Gesualdo's darkly chromatic Tenebrae. There are moments, when the violin, celesta and glockenspiel come into their own, that are shot through with light - but the predominantly dark instrumentation (alto flute, bass clarinet, with strings, harpsichord, chamber organ and marimba used mainly in their low registers) and the generally very soft dynamic level combine to create a shadowy and mysterious atmosphere that further reflects Gesualdo's title.

The meditations are separated by three interludes for voice and guitar which distill an essence of the Gesualdo original and which, taken together, set the text, 'Attendite et videte si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus' (Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow).

One might almost imagine a performance of the original Tenebrae in which the Maxwell Davies movements arose as commenting interludes. What is perhaps most fascinating about the work is that the relationship between the 'old' and the 'new' sections is reversed as in a photographic negative, so that the meditations are perceived as the 'originals' and the brief glimpses of Gesualdo as the 'commentary'.