‘Westerlings’—A Study in Symphonic Form

Extract

There is little doubt that the character of Peter Maxwell Davies's music has undergone a considerable change since he settled in the Orkneys. This can be explained in terms of the development of a mature compositional idiom allied to a virtuoso technique; but in his recent works, the composer has evinced a growing preoccupation with traditional forms. Elements of conventional sonata design can be traced through much of his recent music and there has been a tendency to revert to three– or four–movement structures in preference to his earlier more kaleidoscopic approach involving a series of shorter, interlinked sections. The music has therefore become more ‘symphonic’, and the trend extends beyond the symphonies themselves, Black Pentecost, or the recent Sinfonia Concertante and Sinfonietta Accademica.