Maxwell Davies: Miss Donnithorne's Maggot / 8 Songs for a Mad King [Import]

Peter Maxwell Davies (Composer), The Fires of London (Performer), Mary Thomas (Performer), Julius Eastman (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: The Fires of London, Mary Thomas, Julius Eastman
• Composer: Peter Maxwell Davies
• Audio CD (December 7, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Unicorn-Kanchana
• ASIN: B000001PCI
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,638 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Miss Donnithornes' Maggot - Peter Maxwell Davies

2. Eight Songs For A Mad King - Peter Maxwell Davies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Already a modern classic of great emotional range., March 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Maxwell Davies: Miss Donnithorne's Maggot / 8 Songs for a Mad King (Audio CD)

Peter Maxwell Davies has taken the emotional and technical range of the human voice further than anyone before him. Extreme extended techniques allow for a full new pallet of timbre and emotion. Not for the traditionalists in classical music.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars crazy stuff, April 5, 2002

By 

new music guy (NY, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maxwell Davies: Miss Donnithorne's Maggot / 8 Songs for a Mad King (Audio CD)

As the only recording of Eight Songs for a Mad King available at the moment, this is essential listening for lovers of contemporary music and wacky musical theater. Peter Maxwell Davies plays here with the potential of the human voice, forcing the "Mad King" George, played by a fine Julius Eastman, to push himself to the limit, making use of a full 5 octaves. The Fires of London was never a particularly strong group, especially in comparison with modern ensembles of the same instrumentation such as Eighth Blackbird. But despite a dry, studio sound and some technical flubs from the players, they do well enough to not damage the overall recording. There are sections that have made me shiver consistently, through dozens of listenings, in particular Eastman's howling at the end.

Miss Donnithorne's Maggot is an easily forgettable work in comparison to Eight Songs, but its an understandable coupling on this disc, and it doesn't detract from the value.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Musical Theater, May 31, 2002

By 

Slobberer "Slobberer" (Astoria, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maxwell Davies: Miss Donnithorne's Maggot / 8 Songs for a Mad King (Audio CD)

Both pieces, particularly the "Mad King" are wonderfully excrutiating. I say that in the most complimentary way - far-reaching avant-garde music that is purposeful and energetic and balanced musically and theatrically (as both of these pieces strike me as theatrical as much as they are musical). I don't know what kind of career Julius Eastman had after this recording was made (in the 70's, I think), he is only featured on a couple of Meredith Monk CDs besides this outing, but this piece sounds EXTREMELY TAXING vocally, if not ruinous to the voice. He is superb with this difficult piece, though, despite the challenges, and the recording has been engineered very well.

One might benefit further by watching the film: The Madness of King George III, which I think is a very fine film.