# Worldes Blis



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I bought a recording yesterday of Peter Maxwell Davies' 1997 Piano Concerto and his 1969 "motet for orchestra" Worldes Blis. I'd read about the latter work and it took my interest. It had a difficult beginning, with a sizable number of the audience walking out at its 1969 Proms premiere. But, as we all know, all works need multiple listens to really get into them, and a single performance cannot do it justice. Subsequent performances have revealed it to be one of the more important works of the last 50 years.

Personally I would compare Worldes Blis to the sea. There is constant movement in the piece, with different instrumental textures sliding in and out of earshot, but overall the piece develops very slowly. It's like looking at a small area of the sea; how it moves constantly, quite fast, and then zooming out and seeing the bigger picture of the tide very slowly rising or falling.

I find it a fascinating work, and look forward to really getting to know Worldes Blis.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Thanks for the review. We need a place for ongoing reviews like this. I use the Current Listening and make mini-reviews, but I suspect most folks just look at the pictures an go on.

Having trouble finding a place to stream Worldes Blis, but the samples I've heard on Amazon make it hard to imagine people would walk out on it, even in 1969. I would have thought most would stay out of politeness. But it was a long time ago. Maybe it was radical for then. I myself was a 13 year old heavily into Richard Strauss, Beethoven, Bach, and Ligeti. I might have fidgeted and worried about when to clap, but I wouldn't have walked out.

For myself, I am not quite intrigued enough to purchase the album. Maybe if it goes on sale. It kind of sounds interesting, but even in the small samples we hear those clip-cloppy woodblocks that every other 20th century work uses to the point of becoming a parody of itself. I'm certain in the future the 20th century will be known as the Clip-Clop Period.


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