1 CD |
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Label Challenge Classics |
UPC 0608917254020 |
Catalogue number CC 72540 |
Release date 15 June 2012 |
""Just recently I reviewed a very fine Challenge Classics disc of James MacMillan’s St Luke Passion. However, this wasn’t the first time that the label had issued a MacMillan recording...These three discs contain an excellent and wide ranging selection of pieces by James MacMillan. All are expertly performed and the recordings must be counted as definitive since the composer, who is no mean conductor, is in charge. The recorded sound on each of these CDs is excellent and Ivan Moody’s notes are very useful. Through these discs we can appreciate further what a fine and individual composer James MacMillan is.""
Music Web International, 06-7-2015James MacMillan is one of today’s most successful composers and is also internationally active as a conductor. His musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and close connection with Celtic folk music, blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music.
MacMillan first became internationally recognized after the extraordinary success of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at the BBC Proms in 1990.
His prolific output has since been performed and broadcast around the world. His major works include percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, which
has received more than 400 performances, a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich and three symphonies. Recent major works include his
St John Passion co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra,
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Choir, his Violin Concerto, Viola Concerto, St Luke Passion and, most recently, his Percussion Concerto No.2 for Colin Currie, co-commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Edinburgh International Festival, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.
MacMillan enjoys a flourishing career as conductor of his own music alongside a range of contemporary and standard repertoire, praised for the composer’s
insight he brings to each score. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic until 2013 and was Composer/ Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic from 2000-2009; he has conducted orchestras such as the Baltimore Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic,
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra among others. MacMillan was Composer in Residence at the 2012 Grafenegg Festival and a London Symphony Orchestra Portrait Artist in the 2009/10 season.
In spring 2014 MacMillan conducted three projects with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, culminating in a ground-breaking tour to India with Nicola Benedetti performing in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi including
public concerts, schools concerts and outreach work. In the 2014/15 season, MacMillan conducts orchestras including the Bergen Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia. In January 2015 he conducts a new production of his opera, Inés de Castro, at Scottish Opera and elsewhere this season conducts choral concerts in Sao Paulo and with the BBC Singers. In October 2014 MacMillan founded his music festival, The Cumnock Tryst, which takes place in his native Ayrshire.
James MacMillan is one of today’s most successful composers and is also internationally active as a conductor. His musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and close connection with Celtic folk music, blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music.
MacMillan first became internationally recognized after the extraordinary success of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at the BBC Proms in 1990.
His prolific output has since been performed and broadcast around the world. His major works include percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, which
has received more than 400 performances, a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich and three symphonies. Recent major works include his
St John Passion co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra,
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Choir, his Violin Concerto, Viola Concerto, St Luke Passion and, most recently, his Percussion Concerto No.2 for Colin Currie, co-commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Edinburgh International Festival, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.
MacMillan enjoys a flourishing career as conductor of his own music alongside a range of contemporary and standard repertoire, praised for the composer’s
insight he brings to each score. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic until 2013 and was Composer/ Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic from 2000-2009; he has conducted orchestras such as the Baltimore Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic,
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra among others. MacMillan was Composer in Residence at the 2012 Grafenegg Festival and a London Symphony Orchestra Portrait Artist in the 2009/10 season.
In spring 2014 MacMillan conducted three projects with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, culminating in a ground-breaking tour to India with Nicola Benedetti performing in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi including
public concerts, schools concerts and outreach work. In the 2014/15 season, MacMillan conducts orchestras including the Bergen Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia. In January 2015 he conducts a new production of his opera, Inés de Castro, at Scottish Opera and elsewhere this season conducts choral concerts in Sao Paulo and with the BBC Singers. In October 2014 MacMillan founded his music festival, The Cumnock Tryst, which takes place in his native Ayrshire.
"Just recently I reviewed a very fine Challenge Classics disc of James MacMillan’s St Luke Passion. However, this wasn’t the first time that the label had issued a MacMillan recording...These three discs contain an excellent and wide ranging selection of pieces by James MacMillan. All are expertly performed and the recordings must be counted as definitive since the composer, who is no mean conductor, is in charge. The recorded sound on each of these CDs is excellent and Ivan Moody’s notes are very useful. Through these discs we can appreciate further what a fine and individual composer James MacMillan is."
Music Web International, 06-7-2015
“What you miss is the visual element – being able to see the remarkable Colin Currie rapidly switching between marimba, timps, gongs and cowbells. Challenge Classics's production is handsomely done though – listen through a pair of decent headphones and you can visualise exactly what’s going on...It’s a wonderful piece, and this is a definitive performance.
The Arts Desk, 06-7-2015
The composer-directed performances, like the recorded sound, are the state of the art vividness.
*****
Sinfini, 03-7-2014
Last July, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic gave its last concert, forced to disband because of arts cuts. At once a warning to our musical life and a tribute to this fine band, it makes this CD, the ensembles third with MacMillan, all the more covetable.
The Observer, 29-6-2014
Beyond choral music; MacMillian's latests works give a vivid demonstration of the extraordinary range of this amazingly versatile composer.
Gramophone, 01-5-2014
MacMillan's (version) is strinkingly expansive view if his own piece, textures lightened, with a feeling of chamber music-making in many places.
BBC Music Magazine, 01-12-2012
wonderfully, fresh, imaginative, rhythmically impulsive and vibrantly colourful
Gramophone, 01-10-2012
MacMillan's is an aural blockbuster and Colin Currie, the soloist, dazzles with his dexterity and musical imagination
Financial Times (UK), 28-7-2012
A tour-de-force world premier is the star attraction of this great release
BBC online, 19-7-2012