Right now we’re listening to the Symphony No. 5 by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. The work, cast in a single movement of some 26-minutes, is the composer’s most compact symphonic expression. It’s a far cry from the populist style of “An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise” (heard earlier in this hour), but a good example of how he could emulate the organic processes of Sibelius. Admittedly, his symphonies can be as cold and forbidding as the North Sea churning outside his cottage in the Orkney Islands, but they reward close and repeated listening.
Max would have been 82 today. We’re honoring him with music inspired by Scotland until 11 a.m. EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.