Happy birthday, Max. I like your style.

You were an angry young man of English music, but you never lacked a sense of humor. Your “Eight Songs for a Mad King,” inspired by George III, calls for players to perform in large bird cages; “Miss Donathorne’s Maggot,” inspired by the historical figure who became the basis for Dickens’ Miss Havisham, serves up instrumentalists as decorations on her wedding cake.

You’ve lived in the Orkney Islands, in northernmost Scotland, since 1971. You founded the St. Magnus Festival there in 1977. When a protected swan hit a power line on your property in 2010, you seized the opportunity and planned to eat it. When the police arrived, you offered them swan terrine.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4361079.stm

You were knighted in 1987, and – thanks to changes brought about in reaction to your predecessor’s erratic behavior – you were the first Master of the Queen’s Music not to die while holding the honor (now a ten-year post).

Your symphonies, organic and austere, are often compared to those of Sibelius by critics in the British press. Every once in a while I’ll take one of them down from my collection, but can never seem to get into them. However, I adore your music on Scottish themes, which skillfully blends your wild tendencies with folk inflections and listener-friendly programs.

Keep rocking the boat, Max. I know you’ve done an about-face concerning the monarchy, but you’ve still got that mischievous glint.

Happy 80th birthday!

The three faces of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies:

“Eight Songs for a Mad King”

Symphony No. 3

“An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkioMJJaz1I

PHOTO: Mad Max turns 80