Maxwell Davies: An Orkney Wedding, With Sunrise

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The Scottish Chamber Orchestra celebrates the life and works of its much-loved Composer Laureate Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Maxwell Davies was closely associated with the SCO since the 1980's, when he became its composer/conductor-in-residence; this is the last recording preceding his passing in March 2016. Maxwell Davies was one of the UK's foremost composers; he made a significant contribution to music with his prolific and wide-ranging output, which was celebrated with a 2014 BBC Prom devoted entirely to his works, and conducted by Ben Gernon. An Orkney Wedding brilliantly portrays the beauty of the rising sun after a boozy celebration, using bagpipes to close in a blaze of light. Maxwell Davies composed the concert overture Ebb Of Winter in 2014 to mark the SCO's 40th birthday. The hauntingly beautiful piece depicts a wintery landscape with the optimism of the coming spring. The two pieces for solo guitar each demonstrate the emotional frankness of Maxwell Davies's music, from the menacing flashes of Hill Runes to the unaffected tenderness of Farewell To Stromness; young guitarist Sean Shibe is the soloist.