Peter Maxwell Davies: Strathclyde Concerto No. 4 & Clarinet Quintet

Featuring

Dimitri Ashkenazy
Joseph Trafton
Andrew Haveron
Ian Belton
Paul Cassidy
Jacqueline Thomas

Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen
Brodsky Quartet
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

Did you know?

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Instruments

The Brodsky Quartet uses notable historical instruments, including a 1720 Francesco Gofriller violin, a c. 1615 Giovanni Paolo Maggini violin, a c. 1720 'La Delfina' viola, and a 1785 Thomas Perry violoncello.

Composition History

The Clarinet Quintet 'Hymn to Artemis Locheia' was sponsored by fertility surgeon Ian Craft and is dedicated to the Greek goddess of fertility.

Composer's Artistic Vision

For the Clarinet Quintet, Peter Maxwell Davies spent time at a fertility clinic talking to prospective parents, and the resulting music reflects their trials, tribulations, hopes, and joys.

Performer Biography

Dimitri Ashkenazy, the clarinetist on this album, was born in New York to an Icelandic mother and a Russian father, and grew up in Iceland and Switzerland.

Compositional Technique

The Strathclyde Concerto No. 4 uses a chamber orchestra with liberally used bass instruments and resonant percussion to accompany the solo clarinet's search for its main theme, 'Cumha craobh nan teud' (Lament for the Harp Tree).

Composition History

Peter Maxwell Davies's Strathclyde Concerto No. 4 is part of a series of ten concertos for solo instrument(s) and orchestra, commissioned by the Strathclyde Regional Council.