Ave Maris Stella

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen's Music, is without doubt one of the most important composers of the current age. This new disc presnets the first new recording of his major work Ave Maris Stella since Max's own Fires of London recording over 30 years ago, and the premiere recordings of three fine and varied works

"Absolutely superb" - Malcolm Hayes (BBC Music Magazine)

"One of [the composer's] profoundest and most luminous works…it comes over here with an idiomatic ease and brilliance that make the work seem truly classical. Vintage Max indeed." ×××× - Paul Driver (The Sunday Times)

"Ave Maris Stella is one of Peter Maxwell Davies's greatest achievements, and one of the most powerful of all instrumental works. It's a tough, thrillingly sustained musical argument, and a piece that's as challenging for the performers as it is for the first-time listener, but the Gemini players seem to be totally on top of its thematic intricacies and finely honed lyricism." - Andrew Clements (The Guardian)

"Good news week for contemporary music. Great music passionately played by the chamber ensemble Gemini… this is classic early Max" - Bob Shingleton (Overgrownpath.com)

"This is the kind of work that gives challenging music a good name. High octane, high tone, high calibre listening throughout." - Chris Spector (Mid West Record)

"Ave Maris Stella, written in 1975, is a signature piece and a tour-de-force… a sphinx-like compositional enigma, brilliantly decoded by Gemini." - Philip Clark (Classic FM Magazine)

" Composed in 1975, the instrumental sextet Ave Maris Stella is one of the composer's greatest achievements. The Gemini Ensemble make this tough, knotty composition ... totally compelling." - Andy Hamilton (The Wire)