Celebrated British composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, a former Master of the Queen's Music, has died at the age of 81. He was known for his modern and avant-garde works, but his most famous piece was a simple, haunting lament for solo piano - Farewell To Stromness. "He was, right to the end, a pioneer," Stephen Lumsden, Managing Director of music agency Intermusica, said. The Salford-born musician, who had leukaemia, died at home in Orkney.