Biography
David Maves entered the world in Salem, Oregon, during 1937. Composition lessons from Homer Keller formed part of his undergraduate work at the University of Oregon. He continued studies at the University of Michigan’s graduate school under Ross Lee Finney and Leslie Bassett. More than one hundred works stand to his credit, supported by numerous grants and awards that encompass support from both the Ford Foundation and ASCAP. Charleston, South Carolina, serves as his home, where he has long acted as a director for the Spoleto Festival and its Piccolo Spoleto counterpart. His catalog features an opera drawn from Lorca’s Blood Wedding, assorted ballet scores, and extensive chamber music. Among available recordings stands Musiciens de St. Merry, a meticulously crafted treatment of a Guillaine Appolinaire poem issued on vinyl by OPUS One (#128, Box 604, Greenville, Maine 04441). The same label brought out his First and Second Piano Sonatas (#97) in performances by Max Lifschitz; North/South Recordings later reissued that material, along with the Third and Fourth Sonatas, on CD #1008 (Box 5081, Albany, NY 12205-0081). The First Sonata unfolds as an expansive set of variations whose architectural breadth leads some listeners to regard it as Maves’ most significant keyboard composition. Any such assessment may remain provisional until commercial recordings appear of his Two-Piano Concerto and Organ Concerto.