Peter Maxwell Davies' Arrangements II

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

HENRY PURCELL, Fantasia upon One Note (1973)
Maxwell Davies has described the Purcell original as 'emerging gradually out of a blue haze', and this apt image could be applied to the realisation as a whole in that it is fundamentally a delicate study in reality and illusion, with the original Fantasia gone through in 'dumb show; but seen from many different distances and angles. After reaching a climax in hillbilly style, the work dissolves back to the phosphorescent shimmer in which it began.

Intrinsic to the 'atmospheric lighting' of the work is its transposition from Purcell's F-major to the much more rarefied key of F-sharp, which is used as a colour-filter, under which a familiar musical object becomes insubstantial and remote. It is worth mentioning that the lower level of old pitch, which would rightly be invoked in an authentic context, is not relevant here, because Maxwell Davies is playing on the psychological connotations of 'familiar' and 'unfamiliar' keys as we know them throug present-day ears.

Peter Maxwell Davies' Arrangements

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

PETER MAXWELL DAVIES
(b. 1934)
Renaissance & Baroque Realisations
THE FIRES OF LONDON
SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES conductor
Mary Thomas, soprano
Philippa Davies, flutelpiccololalto flute
David Campbell, clarinets
Beverley Davison, violin/viola
Alexander Baillie, cello
Timothy Walker, guitar
Stephen Pmslin, pianolharpsichordicelestalhonky-tonklchambero rgan
Gregory Knowles, percussion
Recording Producer: Antony Hodgson
Recording Engineer: Geoffrey Barton
Recording Location: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London
on 29 - 31 January 1980
Front cover Design: Karl Renner
Nos. 2 & 5 ublished by Chester Music Ltd.
All others pblished & Boosey & Hawkes MusicPublishers Ltd.

Henry Purcell: Fantasia and Two Pavans
Fantasia on a Ground
Pavan in A
Pavan in B-flat

PURCELL Fantasia and Two Pavans (1968)
1) The Fantasia, in Purcell's key of F-major, is presented in the boldest possible colours. Paradoxically, the boisterously updated orchestration (in particular the piccolo doubling at the twe1fth)creates an authentic dimension of its own: a superb impression of the shrill brilliance of a baroque organ.

2 & 3) In a volte-face from this simulated authenticity, the two pavans (in Purcell's keys of A and B-flat major, respectively) are resurrected as foxtrots. Whether or not one finds such treatment outrageous, there is no denying the virtuosity with which this bravura stylistic exercise is carried off, nor the sheer technical acumen that enables the composer to imbed every note of the Purcell originals within the foxtrots. And perhaps any sense of stylistic discomfort can be put to rest by Maxwell Davies's own commonsensical remark that, after all, one dead dance-form is merely being reinterpreted in terms of another.