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Peter Maxwell Davies: 'Farewell to Stromness' and 'Yesnaby Ground'

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Note - this video now superseded by • Peter Maxwell Davies: ... - a 2020 performance in HD.
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As of 11 February 2009, 'Farewell to Stromness' had been recorded several times here on RU-vid in different instrumentations, but as far as I could tell no-one had uploaded its companion piece 'Yesnaby Ground', so here they are together. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-) is one of Britain's leading composers, and from 2004, Master of the Queen's Music. Indeed, 'Farewell to Stromness' was played at the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on 29 April 2012. Maxwell Davies wrote and premiered himself these two piano interludes for a cabaret-style revue ('The Yellow Cake Revue') given at the St Magnus Festival, Orkney in June 1980. The composer lives in Orkney, and Stromness and Yesnaby are two locations then under threat from a proposed mine (a threat which has been lifted in the short term). The songs and text of the revue were subsequently published in 1984. For more on 'The Yellow Cake Revue' a programme note can be found (halfway down the page) on:
www.chamberoper...
The first piece is marked to be played at a 'slow walking pace', and the second at a 'fast walking pace'. I have deliberately taken a relatively brisk tempo for the Ground to provide an effective contract to the first piece.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Played by Phillip Sear
www.psear.co.uk (Email: piano4@psear.33mail.com
WhatsApp: wa.me/441444483794 )

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28 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 77

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Thank you for your kind comment.

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

Thanks. I think you are the first person to say that you have heard one of my videos on an iPhone. I am glad you liked my tempo!

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

When I was preparing my performance I listened to an arrangement for a wind ensemble, and the players used staccato to bring out the slurring which the composer puts in the score. I liked the effect - its adds a bit of humour - and incorporated it into my playing!

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Thanks for your kind comment - of course I like the pieces, or I would not have played them, but they might be an acquired taste as they are unusual.

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Thanks for your kind comment! As you will see from the other comments, there are a lot of different opinions on how the piece should sound.

@annamroman 4 года назад

Your performance is my favourite!!!!

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Thank you. I'm impressed that you have been to Orkney - I live in the UK but never have! I doubt if the pieces are based on specific Orkney folk music. However, they certainly draw inspiration from Scottish Celtic music in general. I am fortunate in being able to watch BBC Alba, a Gaelic language TV channel, which broadcasts a lot of Celtic music.

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

That's very kind!

@PSearPianist 12 лет назад

Thank you for that. My performances seem very controversial, and maybe I should do these pieces again!

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

Thank you - I will look out for it!

@eurisko618 14 лет назад

These 2 works by Davies sound very authentic of traditional Scottish music, pipes and all. However, for anyone interested in some more even more authentic Scottish piano music, based deeply in traditional music, I highly recommend Murry McLachlan's comprehensive series of the complete piano music of Eric Chisholm, Scotland's greatest composer. Chisholm's piano works are in a way a bit like Bartok's folk music that he cataloged & x-scribed into original works. Virtuoso music played very well!

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Thanks for your comment. I happened to hear Peter Maxwell Davies own piano performance on a British commercial classical radio station (Classic FM - which has apparently plugged the piece quite a lot and is responisble for its popularity, at least in the UK). He is probably a bit more legato than I am, but he certainly points the phrasing with a little staccato here and there.

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Thanks for your comment. He has written a handful of other short pieces (published by Boosey & Hawkes), and a 28 minute piano sonata (1981) published by Chester Novello. I have never heard the sonata, and it doesn't seem to have a place in the standard repertoire. He seems to be best-known for occasional pieces written in accessible idioms (eg, the orchestral 'Orkney Sunrise and Wedding')

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Thank you!

@PSearPianist 11 лет назад

My pleasure!

@robertvanderburg2385 4 года назад

very nice, thank you dad

@PSearPianist 4 года назад

Thank you, Robert. If you haven't already, do look at my very recent video of these piece which has a better performance and much better sound!

@optik2optik 15 лет назад

Merci! J'aime! Dieu a voulu que vous soyez pour faire de la musique, et aussi pour nous!

@eurisko618 14 лет назад

Thank you for these recordings! I've been playing "Farewell" for about a year but never had much success with "Yesnaby" (I'm an aging amateur attempting to regain some of the skill I had 50-30 years ago!). To be honest I preferred your reading of "Yesnaby" over "Stromness" in which I felt you took some liberties with the score regarding both tempo and phrasing - minor points I suppose, but just an honest critique. Keep up the good work!

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

@eurisko618 Thank you for your interesting comment. It is a while since I did these recordings, and I might well do them differently now. I certainly listened to a commercial recording before I did the videos. Sometimes I have to depart from the norm just to bring pieces off on my piano, which - though generally good - does not have the quality of action of a top-of-the-range Steinway.

@PSearPianist 11 лет назад

That's kind! My tempo for this video has been very controversial, and I guess that if I were to rerecord it I might make one or two changes to keep viewers happy!

@ColinBurnside 12 лет назад

You worked very hard at this piece and you enjoyed playing it. Thank you. CGSNI.

@owatson322utube 14 лет назад

Great playing - as always! Lovely pieces.

@luisap.5787 2 года назад

Che meraviglia!🥰

@PSearPianist 2 года назад

Grazie, Luisa!

@wolkowy1 12 лет назад

I was not aware of the polemic composer/arranger, however I like very much these 2 pieces you've chosen and your performance as well. There is nothing wrong with it, believe me!

@operacat1 15 лет назад

I LOVE the piece, my favourite piece of contemporary piano music. I make some feeble attempts at playing it myself, but you show how to do it properly!

@noshoesonmyhorse 11 лет назад

I don;t think it is controversial - this is how it was played when I first heard it - in Stromness! It gives itself to a striding approach with emphasis on the walking bass

@PSearPianist 12 лет назад

Thank you. The speed I use seems a little controversial, and maybe I will make a new video of it sometime soon!

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

C'est un commentaire très gentil. Merci très beaucoup!

@Handbasketification 4 года назад

I would love the sheet music to this. What a moving piece. I love it. Thank you for playing it so well Phillip Sear

@PSearPianist 4 года назад

Thanks, Rosemary. Have a look here: tinyurl.com/y7hdhuft .

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

If I can get hold of any other works of his i shall certainly consider playing them. He is not particularly known for solo piano music.

@PSearPianist 11 лет назад

Thanks for that. I'm sure that somewhere I have heard a recording of the composer himself playing it.

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

You may be right on what it depicts. When I recorded this I had heard other recordings and thought my tempo was about right. If I did it again maybe I would do it a little slower.

@220392123 15 лет назад

this is nice

@lazio20roe 12 лет назад

i like this, good playing, what speed is it suposed to be played at? Seems faster than the version i am used to, think i prefer it slower seems darker

@BachScholar 15 лет назад

I like these a lot. Does he have other piano music?

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

@truthoutmedia Thank you!

@PSearPianist 11 лет назад

Thanks very much! Of course these pieces are not particularly representative of his composing style, as they were written to be very accessible. A lot of his music is quite 'gritty'!

@PSearPianist 13 лет назад

@cheamverdi Of course, it may be my playing that is at fault. However, there might be an element of 'if he is famous/a celebrity, he can do no wrong'. That certainly happens in the visual arts!

@PSearPianist 12 лет назад

@ColinBurnside Thank you for that!

@PSearPianist 13 лет назад

@CS80undermybed Thank you very much. Do persevere with the piano!

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

@eurisko618 Thanks for that. I have a set of pieces by Chisholm, and once played some in a concert. It is a while since I looked at them!

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Please be more specific and tell me where I have played anything significantly different from what appears on the score!

@truthoutmedia 14 лет назад

beautiiful, man

@PSearPianist 11 лет назад

I can see your point of view. It was very much a 'pièce d'occasion' that has been taken up because it is accessible and by a famous composer, much of whose other music is a bit thorny for the man in the street!

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

Thanks for that. However, I do need to have another look at the piece!

@eurisko618 14 лет назад

@PSearPianist One thing I discovered shortly after I discovered Chisholm's music was that the scores are not easy to find. I was interested in his wonderful "Sonata in A" but had to inquire at the Chisholm foundation for the score. It turns out that it exists only in manuscript and even the manuscript is sub-divided into several possible combinations. I did not order it and I don't know where to find other works. What sort of set do you have?

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

@eurisko618 It is the 'Cameos', all of which have very strange titles.

@sarahmckenziesmith 4 года назад

Dynamics!

@PSearPianist 4 года назад

It's a very long time since I recorded these pieces, with very basic equipment, and I hope that should I re-record them the dynamics would come through better!

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

That's kind. Re the swan, I can recall reading that he had a spot of trouble over that!

@noshoesonmyhorse 11 лет назад

I like this performance - I have heard it played by several folks and it's better if it strides along rather than moseys

@jaroglodek7302 4 года назад

I hope, you did not feel offended by my opinion. I believe, you are the great pianist, try please to record,, Farewell " again, properly... I cannot wait!

@PSearPianist 4 года назад

No offence taken at all- I have had a mixture of comments on this recording over the years, and will try to do a new one ASAP!

@PSearPianist 4 года назад

As I had time I have rerecorded it (without listening to my 2009 recording) - and hope that at the very least this has better sound.

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

That's interesting. Maybe I should redo it!

@cpenca 14 лет назад

@NancyBruning I heard it on a station in gainesville and waited in my car in a parking lot until it was over.

@eurisko618 14 лет назад

@PSearPianist Yes, I've heard several recordings, one I believe by Davies himself, and the "At a slow walking pace" tempo varies, apparently by how fast the performer walks, and I find the medium of these to be the most satisfying, and you play it at the tempo I like best. My critique has to do with changing the tempo where no indication exists. Personally I feel the best "feeling" comes from varying the dynamics according to the score works best. I share your "piano problems".

@petestack 6 лет назад

What Max specifies is not just 'At a slow walking pace' but crotchet (quarter note) to be '60-'. To me the minus is crucial, especially considered alongside Yesnaby Ground's '80c.' So he's saying 'about 80' for Yesnaby Ground, but 'no faster than 60' for Farewell to Stromness. Of course it can go too slowly, but this performance just seems too quick and positively gallops in the middle section, suggesting a run rather than trudge away.

@pinkelephant101 15 лет назад

i love farewell to stromness but i don't like the staccato personally, as i don't think it's a piece that should have humour, for me its more melancholic, but interesting interpretation nontheless.

@EdwardWhelanPiano 15 лет назад

This isn't typical Maxwell Davis! Sounds more like a blend of Einaudi and James Horner! Still good though, how about some proper Maxwell Davis?

@PSearPianist 14 лет назад

@owatson322utube Thank you!

@PSearPianist 13 лет назад

@amatorynumber I think it was very much a 'piéce d'occasion' and so he departed from his usual style!

@jennyrawlings5057 3 года назад

Have just been dipping into John Burke's book Musical Landscapes and learnt that "Farewell to Stromness were piano interludes for the Yellow Cake Revue... Yellow Cake is jargon for refined uranium ore, and the cabaret numbers deal with the threat of uranium mining to the economy and ecolgy of the Orkneys. Serendipitously I borrowed a Boosey and Hawkes Piano Anthology 33 pieces by 23 composers from the library as it contained this lovely piece which I had been looking out for. I enjoyed your rendition and Peter Maxwell Davies' album.

@PSearPianist 3 года назад

@@jennyrawlings5057 Thanks Jenny! Do look out for my more recent recording of these pieces which has better sound and video quality (and, hopefully, playing too!!).

@jaroglodek7302 4 года назад

Sorry mr. Sear, I think, that you killed this epic song. Its soul, spirit, beauty... just gone under your speedy fingers.. Kind of regards.

@PSearPianist 4 года назад

I might well do another recording of this - I made this video a long time ago.

@cheamverdi 13 лет назад

I am a composer who had to endure while studying composition the almost fascist atonal dominance in academia of composers like Davies. His 'serious' complex music ranks as some of the worst- and actually most unmusical music I have heard. I notice not one of his symphonies are on youtube-ask yourself why. He then produces as an opposite extreme really bad pseudo folk music like in this video as a token gesture to tonality. I have heard pupils write better stuff in school.

@trentmuch1 12 лет назад

@cheamverdi Although I can't agree with you that atonal music is a bad thing in totality (If that's what you're saying!), I certainly agree that this piece is awful! PSearPianist goes through it very well, so it isn't the playing that is at fault at all. It's the song that's faulty! For children learning the piano? Mm, OK... No, actually I would dissuade them on the grounds that this type of self-righteous, repetitive "muzak" might put them off playing the instrument for good!

@fraggie 15 лет назад

out of time, poor

@grahamyeloff2077 11 лет назад

Maxwell Davies' Stromness is possibly one of the worst pieces I know for piano. I can accept (without liking) his 'contemporary' more complex output-it is what it is. But this Stromness piece is just bad tonal writing and mundane. If it had been written by some little known piano teacher no-one would be interested.

@peterhunt4846 6 лет назад

Considering that this piece is one of his most beloved pieces and most recognized by the general public would suggest that it is a little higher up than "bad tonal and mundane". I think this piece is his most brilliant composition. You can write bad atonal contemporary music and no one knows the difference because even "brilliant" atonal contemporary music sounds like bad atonal music. But try to write a simple "mundane" piece of tonal music that is both beautiful (I know, modern music is not supposed to be "beautiful") and well loved by the public (who ultimately are your audience) a piece that will live long after you are gone. "Farewell to Stromness" does that. It is a brilliant composition.

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Thank you!

@PSearPianist 15 лет назад

Thank you!