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- Peter Maxwell Davies
Caroline Mathilde: Concert Suite from Act I of the ballet (1991)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
- 2(pic:afl)2(ca)2(bcl)2(cbn)/2220/timp.2perc/hp/str
- 25 min
Programme Note
Davies's second full-length ballet concerns the unhappy history of an eighteenth-century British princess married to the eccentric and epileptic King Christian VII of Denmark; in keeping with the period, and perhaps also with the traditions of Romantic ballet, the music is relatively simple in harmony and form, and most of the action is conveyed in set-piece dances. The suite, which consists essentially of the second half of Act I, begins with one of these, a bristling interplay of wind and string ensembles in D major, portraying in the ballet a curious nuptial game with the king and princess on movable pedestals. The slow music that follows has to do with the king's healing by Dr. Struensee and the new queen's unquiet reverie (oboe and cor anglais solos). Then the suite, like the act, is capped by a pair of pas-de-deux, the first savage and bizarre for the royal couple, the second rich and passionate for the queen and the miracle-working doctor.
Media
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act I, Op. 144b: I. A Public Square
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act I, Op. 144b: II. Inside the Castle
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act I, Op. 144b: III. The Queen's Chamber
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act I, Op. 144b: IV. The Royal Chambers
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act II, Op. 144c: I. A Public Square
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act II, Op. 144c: II. The Conspiracy
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act II, Op. 144c: III. The Masked Ball - Court Dance
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act II, Op. 144c: IV. The Masked Ball - Pas de deux
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act II, Op. 144c: V. The Arrest
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act II, Op. 144c: VI. The Execution
Caroline Mathilde, Concert Suite from Act II, Op. 144c: VII. The Exile of Caroline Mathilde