Reviews
Review Search
This Spitalfields Winter Festival concert paid homage to an established Christmas institution: the Christmas Eve carol service given at King's College, Cambridge. The seasonal staple is graced each year by a new carol commissioned, almost always, from a British composer.
Placed end to end, these would scarcely cover the full stylistic gamut (it's unrealistic, I suppose, to expect a carol from,...
Strong 'Messiah' conductor carries the night
The season for Messiah envy – the ever-green variety – is upon us.
Those who don't tire of this most original of G.F. Handel's oratorios look longingly at other cities, where more thought and care appear to be put into the piece's annual, holiday-time performances. The Philadelphia Orchestra's lineup contained only a single "name" - countertenor...
"Lux aeterna" illuminates hope with choral music
In the course of my work, I receive compact discs by the dozen each week, more than I can listen to, let alone review. I try to give as many of them as I can a hearing; once in a while, I'll listen to something particularly well done a second or even a third time. But recently, quite by chance, I found a recording that I can barely put down: "Lux...
*****
The two premiere recordings on this disc are the Te Deum and On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. The former is stunning, containing many of MacMillan's characteristics: beautiful contrapuntal lines often highly decorated, dramatic harmonic writing and blocks of sound from the organ. Thankfully this setting will rise above a limited liturgical use. The latter is a delicate, poignant...
'MacMillan has a tremendous gift for making the simple resonate; the 2001 Te Deum, a first recording, shows he also knows just how to freshen an ageing choral tradition. Some fantastic singing here; and glorious music'
'James MacMillan's work is informed by his Catholic faith, but rarely has he communicated his spiritual message as effectively as in this large-scale piece. Perhaps Haydn's example has forced him to raise his game, or maybe it was the heartrending text: either way, this is a modern choral masterpiece, and Stephen Layton and his forces its ideal interpreters'