Davies - Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) [Audio + Score]

Davies - Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) [Audio + Score]
Eight Songs for a Mad King is a monodrama by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies with a libretto by Randolph Stow, based on words of George III. The work was written for the South-African actor Roy Hart and the composer's ensemble, the Pierrot Players. It was premiered on 22 April 1969.
Lasting half an hour, it is scored for a baritone with an extraordinary command of extended techniques covering more than five octaves, and six players (Pierrot ensemble + percussion):
flute (doubling piccolo)
clarinet
percussion (1 player): railway whistle, snare drum, 2 suspended cymbals, foot cymbal, 2 wood blocks, bass drum, chains, ratchet, tom-toms, tamtam, tambourine, rototoms, toy bird-calls, 2 temple blocks, wind chimes, crotales, sleigh bells, glockenspiel, steel bars, crow, didgeridoo
piano (doubling harpsichord and dulcimer)
violin
cello
The songs derive from tunes played by an extant mechanical organ owned by George III, tunes that he attempted to train bullfinches to sing:
The Sentry (King Prussia's Minuet)
The Country Walk (La Promenade)
The Lady-In-Waiting (Miss Musgrave's Fancy)
To Be Sung on the Water (The Waterman)
The Phantom Queen (He's Ay A-Kissing Me)
The Counterfeit (Le Conterfaite)
Country Dance (Scotch Bonnett)
The Review (A Spanish March)
The action unfolds as a soliloquy by the king, the players being placed on stage (ideally) in large birdcages, and climaxes in his snatching and smashing the violin.
The score is published by Boosey & Hawkes, and its cover shows a famous excerpt in which the staves are arranged like the bars of a birdcage.
Besides Hart, exponents of this work have included William Pearson, Michael Rippon, Thomas Meglioranza, Julius Eastman and Vincent Ranallo.
The Musical Times described Suart's take as "compelling from start to finish". Welsh baritone Kelvin Thomas sang the role at Munich's Kammerspiele Schauspielhaus in 2011, and in a production by Music Theatre Wales in 2013.

[@tyelerhiggins300]

I don't understand a lot of this notation, but I love looking at the representations of vocal harmonics and harsh vocals.

[@elizamostem]

Great piece! the human voice brought to hell and heaven. Great imagination, I love it.

[@dweissfisch]

Who are the performers on this recording?

[@dion1949]

And now we have mad "kings" all over!

[@dion1949]

Terrifying ending

[@GabrielSilva-sh1ny]

20'05" Number 7

[@user-nt4mc1bh3l]

poor piano arranger :(

[@AndreaColombo-fx1wh]

It's an approximation