With over one hundred and eighty published works in every medium which are continually performed all over the world, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is universally acknowledged as one of the foremost composers of our time. He lives in a croft in a remote valley on the island of Hoy in the Orkneys off the North coast of Scotland where he writes most of his music. His major theatrical works include the operas Taverner, Resurrection, and The Lighthouse (which is one of the most performed twentieth-century operas) ; the full-length ballets Salome and Caroline Mathilde; and the music-theatre works Miss Donnithorne's Maggot and Eight Songs for a Mad King. His large output of orchestral works includes six symphonies and ten concertos, as well as the hugely popular An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise which was written as a commission for the Boston Pops Orchestra and seen by millions of people all over the world at The Last Night of the Proms. Maxwell Davies has received numerous honorary doctorates and awards. In recent years Maxwell Davies has extended his conducting activities. He is Composer/Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, for whom he has written a series of ten Strathclyde Concertos for its principal players. With the BBC Philharmonic he has recorded his Symphonies 1,2 and 3, as well as the operas The Lighthouse and Resurrection. He celebrated his 60th birthday on September 8th 1994 with the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester in a concert performance of Resurrection at the Royal Northern College of Music. Maxwell Davies' music has been extensively recorded, and he has an exclusive recording contract with Collins Classics. An orchestral work for the BBC Philharmonic (The Beltane Fire given its first performance in Boston on the USA tour in spring 1995) has recently been recorded and the opera The Doctor of Myddfai for Welsh National Opera will be recorded later this year. His most recent release is Symphony No.6 written for and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Programme Note: Stedman Doubles(Original version)

1. Adagio non troppo/Allegro

2. Allegretto con moto/allegro molto energico

Stedman Doubles was written in February 1955, for clarinet and three percussion players. It was meant to be performed by fellow students at the Royal Manchester College of Music, but was considered unplayable, and had to languish for more than a decade, when it was drastically revised for the Pierrot Players, the chamber and music-theatre ensemble run by Harrison Birtwistle and myself, and performed in a much slimmed-down version, for clarinet and one percussionist. At the time I was a student on the joint course of the University Music Department and the College, and had been flung off the University composition course. To obtain a degree I had, therefore, to give a piano recital, and write a thesis: I chose to write about Indian Classical Music. The present work was an unofficial "sidekick" to this thesis - it is very much influenced by the principles of raga improvisation and Indian rhythmic procedure, and was meant to demonstrate to myself that such processes had some practical application in Western music. The score was found in a heap of manuscripts recently sent to the British Library, and I am delighted that it had its first performance in the institution for which it was intended, even if this is forty years late.

First Performance Details

The first performance of Stedman Doubles in the original version was given on 16th November 1995 at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. The work was performed by Psappha: Clarinet - Dov Goldberg, Percussion - Tim Williams, Ian Forgrieve and Elizabeth Gilliver.

First Broadcast Details

The first broadcast of the work was given on BBC Radio 3 'Hear & Now' programme by the above named players on 3rd January 1997.

First Recording Details

The work was recorded by Psappha for CD on 15th December 1997 and will be released on the British Music Label BM026 on 23rd March 1998. See Psappha Debut CD for details.

Contact Details

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