Peter Maxwell Davies' Arrangements VI

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

Three Early Scottish Motets
Si Quis Diligit Me
Our Father Whiche in Heaven Art
All Sons of Adam

RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE REALISATIONS
Clearly, the assignment of Renaissance and Baroque pieces to a timbrally mixed ensemble of modern instruments can in no way be construed as 'authentic' - more importantly, these realisations were never intended as such. As the word 'realisation' suggests, Peter Maxwell Davies is interested in using the works concerned as a departure-point for his own very personal interpretations. While this may not appeal to the purist, such interpretations still very much inhabit the world of 'pure' music. Far from representing a philosophical platform from which to moralize at the prevalent authentic temper of the times; the realisatioins are audibly the extension of an enormous knowledge and love of early music, carried out in a spirit of colleagueship across the centuries. If anything, the current swing of the pendulum to the authentic 'far right' serves only to enhance the relevance of these versions as a refreshingly different view of the subject.

There is much humour here, also parody and irony both subtle and explicit. As is usual with Maxwell Davies, the presence of these qualities does not preclude the presence of a serious and relevant point underneath. Conversely, the real erudition that underlies many of these realisations is worn very lightly and does not obtrude into the sheer listening experience they represent.

The listener will readily recognize three different sorts of realisation within this collection. There are works in which the identity of the original is clearly maintained within the context of an orchestration or re-orchestration (Bach Preludes and Fugures, Purcell Fantasia upon a Ground, Dunstable Veni Sancte-Veni Creator, Transcription, Peebles/Heagy Si Quis Diligit Me). Then there are cases where the original undergoes an extensive character-transformation that partially or wholly disguises its identity (Purcell Fantasia upon One Note and Two Pavans, Dunstable Veni Sancte-Veni Creator, 'Commentary'). Finally, there is a group (in some cases overlapping the 'character-transformation' category) where a chemical amalgam is effected between Maxwell Davies's own harmonic style and the style of the original to the point where they become inextricable (Anon. All Sons of Adam, John Angus Our Father Whiche in Heaven Art).

Three Early Scottish Motets
These short works are published together with a fourth work, Psalm 124, under the title 'Four Instrumental Motets from Early Scottish Originals'. 'The first of them, Si Quis Diligit Me (1973) is a straightforward setting of a quietly confident work by David Peebles and Francy Heagy. The second, 'Our Father Whiche in Heaven Art' (1977, after John Angus) and the third, All Sons of Adam (1974, after an anonymous 16th-century original) both begin equally straightforwardly, but are then progressively overlaid or infiltrated from within by various processes which result in an eventual amalgamation with Maxwell Davies's own style. Taken together, the three pieces present a musical portrait of the cool severity of the Kirk of Scotland, a quality inherent in the original pieces.