The State of the Symphony: Not only Maxwell Davies's

Extract

Peter Maxwell Davies's Symphony is substantial enough to have prompted an intensive study of the score, and problematic enough to have prompted this essay. ‘Problematic enough’ is not a tactful or cowardly euphemism for ‘bad enough’, though it might just be a euphemism for ‘uneven enough’: we shall see. In any case, to talk of problems here is the most objective approach as well as the most honest: initially, at any rate, it leaves the question open whether the problem is Peter Maxwell Davies's or mine or, most likely, a bit of both.