Eight Songs for a Mad King
by Peter Maxwell Davies
- Type: Album
- Released: 1 January 1971
- Label: Unicorn
- Country: United Kingdom
- Length: 1:07:19
- Community rating: 4.18/5 from 1 rating
Album Notes & Community Reviews
Davies wrote the mad king's role for Roy Hart, whose extended vocal techniques shape every page of Randolph Stow's text, and the work was premiered in April 1969. For this recording, made in London in October 1970, Julius Eastman sings George III with the Fires of London conducted by the composer, the instrumentalists placed as the king's caged bullfinches.
Genres
Descriptors: theatrical, dissonant, avant-garde, storytelling, experimental
Tracklist
- Eight Songs for a Mad King: I. The Sentry (King Prussia's Minuet) (5:30)
- Eight Songs for a Mad King: II. The Country Walk (La Promenade) (3:37)
- Eight Songs for a Mad King: III. The Lady-In-Waiting (Miss Musgrave's Fancy) (3:54)
- Eight Songs for a Mad King: IV. To Be Sung on the Water (The Waterman) (2:34)
- Eight Songs for a Mad King: V. The Phantom Queen (He's Ay A-Kissing Me) (2:33)
- Eight Songs for a Mad King: VI. The Counterfeit (Le Conterfaite) (2:53)
- Eight Songs for a Mad King: VII. Country Dance (Scotch Bonnet) (4:04)
- Eight Songs for a Mad King: VIII. The Review (A Spanish March) (3:36)
- Miss Donnithorne's Maggot: I. Prelude (1:25)
- Miss Donnithorne's Maggot: II. Miss Donnithorne's Maggot (8:19)
- Miss Donnithorne's Maggot: III. Recitative (6:24)
- Miss Donnithorne's Maggot: IV. Her Dump (3:00)
- Miss Donnithorne's Maggot: V. Nocturne (The Instrumentalists) (2:00)
- Miss Donnithorne's Maggot: VI. Her Rant (4:34)
- Miss Donnithorne's Maggot: VII. Recitative (4:22)
- Miss Donnithorne's Maggot: VIII. Her Reel (8:26)
Credits
- Peter Maxwell Davies - primary artist, written-by, sleeve notes, composed by
- Julius Eastman - soloist, voice
- George III - text by
- Randolph Stow - text by
- Duncan Druce - violin, viola
- Stanley Goodall - engineer
- Roy Baird - photography by
- David Harvey - producer