Far Pavilions : Work information

Composers
Carl Davis ( Music, Images,)
Performed by
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Carl Davis (Conductor)

This work

Work name
Far Pavilions
Work number
n/a
Key
n/a
Genre
A
Composed
1984-00-00 02:00:00

This recording

Label
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Producer
n/a
Engineer
n/a
Recording date
n/a

The Composers

Carl Davis

Famous and highly acclaimed for his television and film music, Carl Davis also has a career as a conductor, often of his own works. He has composed theatre music, working extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, ballet scores, an opera, and orchestral works.

Born in Brooklyn, New York on 28 October 1936, he attended the New England Conservatory of Music and Bard College, studying composition under Paul Nordoff and Hugo Kauder. Further study followed with Per Nørgård in Copenhagan, where he also worked with the Royal Danist Ballet.

In 1961, following the success of his off-Broadway revue Diversions, Davis moved to England, writing the music for the landmark satirical television series That Was the Week that Was. Film and television work has since flooded in, and his scores include: The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981, for which he won a BAFTA and an Ivor Novello award); Napoleon (1980, for Abel Gance's silent film); Pride and Prejudice (1995); and, most famously, The World at War (1974) .

Much of Davis's music reinterprets existing musical styles, even re-using themes of Tchaikovsky in his 1995 ballet Alice in Wonderland, and appeals to a wide public. He collaborated on Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio in 1991 and continues to conduct all over the world, often programming deliberately popular music.

Carl Davis's permanent home is now in London. He is married to actress Jean Boht, and they have two daughters.

Track listing

  • 4:40 min

Notes

The Far Pavilions was a lengthy mini-series dramatisation of M.M. Kaye's romantic novel, set in India. It was produced in 1984 for HBO and starred John Gielgud, Omar Sharif and Christopher Lee.

Carl Davis recalled that his "prinicipal theme is based on Indian modes, which I had already integrated into a number of filims with Indian subjects. I chose a specific mode and used its notes to create the rather sad and elegaic theme music."