Maxwell Davies' Orkney Legacy: The St Magnus Festival at 50 Years
The Lead
This midsummer marks the 50th anniversary of the St Magnus festival in Orkney, founded by composer Peter Maxwell Davies and poet George Mackay Brown in 1977. The festival represents a living legacy of connection across culture and community, establishing Orkney as a center for musical culture rather than a remote location.
The Festival's Origins and Vision
The first festival began with the premiere of Max's opera, "The Martyrdom of St Magnus," staged in the magnificent blood-red sandstone St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. This bold statement signaled that Orkney was neither remote nor marginal, but a center for musical culture and world history. Max's vision of a composer-led festival, similar to Benjamin Britten's Aldeburgh festival, was groundbreaking for its location far from urban centers, binding the festival's vision across music, poetry and all arts to the fabric of Orkney's communities across its islands.
Maxwell Davies' Musical Legacy
Max's music, though still powerful and resonant, remains underappreciated and underperformed. No composer worked as assiduously to find a new kind of harmony for the late 20th century. His musical language is as alive and dynamic as the currents of tide, wave and storm that surge beneath him from his first home on Orkney. His 10 symphonies, 10 Strathclyde Concertos, and 10 Naxos Quartets are now too rare visitors to concert programs, despite their significance.
The Unique Compositional Approach
Max's music isn't atonal—he didn't seek a total break from the past; instead, he found new kinds of harmonic gravity in how his music relates keys and modes to one another. The effect is mysterious yet visceral, with massive energy coursing through his symphonic structures. He used mathematical squares—sudoku-like grids of numbers where every line and diagonal adds up to the same total—to create material for his pieces. He also believed in unseen forces, placing pagan symbols above each doorway in his house to ward off negative influences.
The Impact of Place on Composition
Max's connection to Orkney profoundly influenced his music. He wrote in his program notes for the Second Symphony that "at the very moment that I wrote the final drumstrokes, there was a tremendous, thunderous rock-fall from the cliff at the other side of the bay, opposite my windows." His music moves with all the gigantic forces of the sea, from the sparkling percussion of its surfaces to the dangerous undertows that roil beneath, reflecting his environment on the highest cliffs of the island of Hoy.
The Future of Maxwell Davies' Music
As the St Magnus festival celebrates its 50th anniversary, there's an opportunity to reassess Maxwell Davies' contribution to classical music. His works, though complex, offer a unique harmonic language that continues to resonate with audiences. The festival, now under artistic director Alasdair Nicolson, continues Max's vision of connecting music with community, ensuring that his legacy—and the unique sound world he created in and of Orkney—endures for future generations to discover and appreciate.