Maxwell Davies - The Last Island: Chamber music

The Guardian 60

Hebrides Ensemble
(Delphian)

This touching collection of miniatures includes music by Peter Maxwell Davies from the 1990s on, highlighting some of the last pieces composed before his death in 2016. While completing his last symphony he found time for works that celebrate friendship (A Birthday Card for Jennifer) and the local landscape (A Postcard from Sanday), alongside abstract pieces including a plainsong-inspired Oboe Quartet, beautifully played here, and a final, elusive String Quartet Movement that remained unfinished, evaporating into nothing at the close. Prospero-like, Max lays down his manuscripts: the dedicated Hebrides Ensemble, led by cellist William Conway, feel in close and constant touch with the composer.