Maxwell Davies : Symphony 1, Points and Dances

Album review

Two sides of Peter Maxwell Davies are presented on this 25th anniversary reissue: one straining to master a difficult form, and the other comfortable in a language and medium wholly his own. The Symphony No. 1 reveals Maxwell Davies' ambitious streak. In this expansive elaboration on the single-movement Black Pentecost, he strives to develop and contain all the implications of the earlier work. But the proliferation of ideas work to the detriment of the symphony's formal needs; it does not cohere over its 54 minutes and is too reliant on color and gesture to carry its scattered arguments. Even so, this is an interesting experiment, scrupulously performed by Simon Rattle and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Ostensibly provided as filler, the Points and Dances from Maxwell Davies' opera Taverner are much more concise than the symphony, and they offer more fascinating music. The sardonic composer of Eight Songs for a Mad King and Vesalii Icones is recognizable in these suites; and the parodied pavans, galliards, and marches, acidly performed by the Fires of London, are disturbingly original in their neo-Renaissance expressionism. Originally performed in 1971 and 1978, respectively, the symphony and the Points and Dances are reasonably clear in the digital transfers, but the sound is a little distant and limited.

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