An island wedding.

This post comes to you from Saint Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands, which I'm visiting for my sister's wedding. To mark the event officially on this blog, I'd like to share some island wedding music by recently deceased English composer Peter Maxwell Davies. Premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1985, An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise was apparently inspired by a real wedding Davies attended in the Orkney Islands north of Scotland, with the various shifts in the music reflecting different phases of a riotously festive celebration. Among other things, this composition is one of very few pieces for classical orchestra that features a bagpipe solo. The recording featured here includes piper George MacIlwham as soloist, with Peter Maxwell Davies himself conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.



Best wishes to all readers, with a special hope that those in Toronto and other northern climes may soon enjoy warmer weather. AMDG.