Work: Eight Songs for a Mad King

All praise should be heaped on Rosie Middleton for her brave evocation and the vocal prowess of her performance in Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King. 

The vocal part requires a range covering over five octaves, from the lowest bass notes to a high falsetto and Robert Tucker coped amazingly with the score’s lyrical elements and the various shrieking, whispering and clucking noises he was called upon to create.

The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group present an ambitious mixture of experimental chamber music and disquieting monodrama.