Argo Records | Maxwell Davies: Solstice of Light

Maxwell Davies: Solstice of Light

Choir of King's College - Cambridge
Stephen Cleobury
436 1192 3 DH
* DIGITAL-ONLY REISSUE *

Peter Maxwell Davies is one of the most versatile composers working today. He has written for all genres and his huge output includes string quartets and other chamber works, music theatre pieces and full-scale operas, as well as concertos and symphonies.

The main work featured here, Solstice of Light, dates from 1979 and sets texts by the Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown, with whom Maxwell Davies has collaborated on several occasions. Solstice of Light is scored for voices and organ and tells the story of the history of Orkney and the emergence of the islands from the ice.

Tracklisting

Solstice of Light
1. New Hills and Lochs and Shores 4:02
2. The Mild Circle of the Sun 2:54
3. We Rowed Blindly North and North 3:44
4. Green Whirls of Melted Ice 1:36
5. The Hills, the Skies, the Sweet and the Salt Waters 3:29
6. Earth Breakers, Hewers of Mighty Stone 1:42
7. Circles of Stone on the Blank Moor 2:16
8. Solstice of Light 2:01
9. The Celtic Priests 2:54
10. The White Weave of Peace 2:00
11. Hawkship 3:43
12. Norsemen 2:56
13. Invocation of the Dove 4:35
14.Prayer for these Islands; New Troves 8:21

Five Carols
15. Today, my lord Sire Christemas 0:40
16. Ave domina - For thro our sins 2:37
17. What tidings bringest thou 1:05
18. QAh man, assay 2:00
19. Make we joy now in this fest 1:12
20. Hymn to the Word of God 4:50