| audio sample: |
An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise |
| scoring: |
Highland bagpipes solo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, clarinet, bass clarinet (2nd + clarinet), 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, *percussion (4 players), timpani, strings
*percussion (4 players): marimba, crotales, glockenspiel, 4 wood blocks, large tambourine, side drum, pedal bass drum, suspended cymbal, cymbals, Swanee whistle, slapstick |
| world premiere: |
10 May 1985, Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Boston Pops Orchestra, John Williams conductor |
| commissioner: |
Boston Pops Orchestra on the occasion of its centenary |
| press quotes: |
 Davies is a master story-teller in this vividly detailed tone-painting of a rustic, often raucous, all-night wedding celebration. The bagpipes’ entrance near the end is a soul-stirring touch of genius.
Gramophone Magazine
June 2008
This piece of unashamed programme music parodies Scottish strathspeys and reels in a hilarious picture of a boozy, rustic knees-up, the band finally collapsing into alcoholic oblivion. The sun rises in th shape of the Highland bagpipes, the player advancing ceremoniously through the hallcrowning the work with a gesture of heartfelt rhetoric. It brought the house down.
The Independent
May 1985
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| programme note: |
Short Note by Paul Griffiths
This is sheer entertainment. The orchestra winds itself up, and then draws before the audience a succession of Scottish tunes, increasingly unbuttoned, though suggesting drunken sentimentality as well as rip-roaring vigour. Then everything calms down, and echoes of the wedding are heard in the distance; the sun comes up, represented by a Highland bagpiper, who joins the orchestra and marches the piece to its rousing conclusion.
Deutsche Anmerkungen (kurz)
Dies ist ein Stück reiner Unterhaltung. Das Orchester nimmt Anlauf und läßt dann vor dem Publikum eine Folge schottischer Weisen defilieren, die immer fideler werden - erfüllt von trunkener Sentimentalität wie von ausgelassener Wildheit. Dann beruhigt sich der Trubel, und aus der Ferne tönen Nachklänge der Hochzeit; die Sonne geht auf, verkörpert durch einen Hochland-Dudelsackspieler, der sich zum Orchester gesellt und das Stück zum mitreißenden Abschluß führt.
Extended Note I by Stephen Pruslin © 1996
Given the imprint of Sibelius on the structure and poetics of other Maxwell Davies orchestral works, it is tempting to hear this 'picture-postcard' of a wedding on the island of Hoy as his response to the tone-poem Night Ride and Sunrise, with Sibelius's solitary rider here replaced by a wedding-party who arrive at the hall out of violent weather. There follows a processional, after which the band tunes up for a wedding-dance which builds to an inebriated climax. The guests leave the hall with echoes of the processional music in their ears, and as they walk home, the sun, personified by the full splendour of highland bagpipes, rises over Caithness.
The pipes are associated with the Scottish mainland and Western Isles but, as the sunrise over Caithness can actually be seen across the water from Hoy, the composer felt justified in 'borrowing' the instrument into an Orcadian context. In concert, the entry of the piper in full regalia from behind the audience and his gradual procession to the stage create a positive frisson every time the work is played, throwing into vivid relief a musical metaphor as intuitively brilliant as it is unexpected.
This is a copyright note, and may not be reprinted or reproduced in any way without prior permission from the author.
Extended Note II
Living for so much of the year in Orkney, Maxwell Davies has filtered the natural elements of the islands into music. Yet although An Orkney Wedding forges it way out of a brief squall and ends with a singular sunrise, the human scene is very much to the fore. These Hoy celebrants know how to enjoy themselves. Part of the fun of the piece is the way the accent slips once the drink begins to take effect. A touch of Copland as the dance begins to swing American style fits the distinctive Scotch snap very well, and pays tribute into the bargain to the Boston Pops Orchestra which commissioned the work and gave the first performance, under John Williams (of Star Wars fame) in May 1985; later, as night draws on, shades of Bartók's or Kodály's dance suites begin to rise.
It is something of a concerto for orchestra. Woodwind solos lead the processional out of the rain before the oboe's familiar 'A' encourages the wedding band to tune up noisily; the dances proper feature brazen trumpet, shrill clarinets against glissando trombones and a tipsy violin solo before the guests stagger their separate ways into the darkness. Then soft trills and tremolos, with an aura of anticipation from glockenspiel and marimba, introduce the sun, a bagpiper. How and where he rises would be to spoil half the fun, but Max's observation is worth noting: 'the instrument is Scottish Mainland and Western Isles rather than Orcadian - but as, from Hoy, the run rises over Caithness, I thought it was justified to have the instrument represent the sun.' |
| composer’s note: |
This was written for the Boston Pops Orchestra as a commission for its centenary, and conducted at the first performance by John Williams. It is a picture postcard record of an actual wedding I attended on Hoy in Orkney.
At the outset, we hear the guests arriving, out of extremely bad weather, at the hall. This is followed by the processional, where the guests are solemnly received by the bride and bridegroom, and presented with their first glass of whisky. The band tunes up, and we get on with the dancing proper. This becomes ever wilder, as all concerned feel the results of the whisky, until the lead fiddle can hardly hold the band together any more. We leave the hall into the cold night, with echoes of the processional music in our ears, and as we walk home across the island, the sun rises, over Caithness, to a glorious dawn. The sun is represented by the highland bagpipes, in full traditional splendour. |
| recording: |
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies conductor, George MacIlwham highland bagpipes
Unicorn-Kanchana DKP CD 9070
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies conductor, George MacIlwham highland bagpipes
Collins Classics 14442
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies conductor, George MacIlwham highland bagpipes
Collins Classics 15242
Boston Pops Orchestra, John Williams conductor , Nancy Tunnicliffe highland bagpipes
Philips CD 420-946-2
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