I've been delightedly picking these up as they are released. If anyone remembers, I think I said in the Other Place (when Max was still persona grata) what a shame it was that the symphonies of the Master of the Queen's Music should be mostly unavailable on CD. By the way, is he Master for all the Queen's countries like Canada and Jamaica, or do they have their own?
What an interesting question :)
The Queen is Head of State of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but is also the Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, St.Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St.Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. (Bermuda, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and St. Helena are British Overseas Territories...what used to be called "Colonies" ;D).
However, since the Master of the Queen's Music is a member of the Royal Household and since the Queen's representative in the countries listed above is a Governor-General (each with his or her own "household") I would assume that PMD's remit does not extend to providing music outside the British Isles :)
What is also interesting is that PMD's appointment was for 10 years not for life and that his term will therefore end in 2014. It may be that, since he will be 80 in 2014 PMD will chose to resign an appointment he has not necessarily found terribly congenial ;D ;D
And if he does retire......who then ??? ???
Remember Sir William Walton's famous comment when Malcolm Williamson was appointed ??? "They got the wrong Malcolm!"