James MacMillan: Choral Music James MacMillan Music James MacMillan’s choral music embraces sacred and secular, ancient and modern, meditative simplicity and rich ornamentation. A Practical Commentary and Survey by Paul Spicer This guide examines 58 of his choral works from a practical perspective, describing the choral forces required, the level of difficulty, and the vocal character of each piece. Unaccompanied choral works page 2 Choral works with organ page 8 Choral works with piano or instruments page 11 Choral works with orchestra page 13 MacMillan Choral CD Sampler Extracts from 17 choral works by James MacMillan can be heard on a Boosey & Hawkes CD sampler, available upon request from [email protected]. Performers on the disc include the Choir of Westminster Cathedral, Polyphony, The Hilliard Ensemble, the BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Chorus. Track numbers are referred to throughout this Guide. For further information about James MacMillan and his music, please visit his website at www.boosey.com/macmillan Born in Scotland in 1959, James a series of communion motets written mostly for specific MacMillan has rapidly established days of the church’s year, are a wonderful example of himself as one of the most successful MacMillan’s ability to write straightforward music without and sought-after of international compromising his deeply personal style. At the other end composers. His output is unusual of the scale his St.John Passion is a hugely complex and among mainstream contemporary dramatic work the like of which has probably not been composers in including a high seen since Britten’s War Requiem. proportion of choral works, with his James MacMillan’s Catholic faith is central to his creativity chosen genres and subject matter extending over a wide and brings an added dimension to much of his choral span, from liturgically-based music which could play music, whether recapturing a mood of Medieval meditation a part in weekly church services to virtuoso writing for or reaching towards a state of spiritual ecstasy or soloistic multi-voiced choirs such as in Màiri. The scale contemplative peace. Even when, as in Cantos Sagrados, of forces employed also ranges widely from the serene, the words are about political repression, he ensures that unaccompanied A Child’s Prayer written in memory of there is enshrined in the work a message of hope beyond the murdered children of Dunblane Primary School to the the earthly struggle. Among his large-scale works the grandeur of his orchestral and choral work Quickening Seven Last Words from the Cross is a masterpiece of premiered at the 1999 BBC Proms. His Strathclyde Motets, choral drama which cannot fail to move all who hear it, The level of difficulty given to each work is on a scale of u-y with u being the easiest and y the most complex Unaccompanied The Canticle of Zachariah (2007) 3’ (The Strathclyde Motets) for SATB choir a cappella Text: Luke I: 68-79 (E) Premiere: 2 December 2007 St Columba’s Maryhill, Glasgow works Strathclyde University Chamber Choir Level u The effect of The Canticle of Zachariah is that of harmonized chant. The motet needs that kind of rhythmic freedom which is underlined by the composer who writes constantly shifting bar lengths. As often with After Virtue (2006) 5’ MacMillan’s choral music there is a single line of melody with words (in the bass part here) accompanied by the ebb and flow of the other for SSAATTBB chorus a cappella voices singing in support. The Doxology is unusually set to unison Text taken from the final paragraph (chapter 18) of the book After Virtue, by chant for all voices. Alasdair MacIntyre (E) 979-0-060-12026-8 Choral score on sale Premiere: 18 March 2007 Oslo Oslo Soloists Choir / Grete Pedersen Level x A Child’s Prayer (1996) 5’ This short, powerful work was commissioned by the Oslo International for SATB choir a cappella, with two treble/soprano solos Church Music Festival in 2007. This is a remarkable setting of an unlikely text by Alasdair MacIntyre (b 1929) in which the current ‘dark Dedicated to the dead of the Dunblane tragedy, March 1996 ages’ are compared with those of the dark ages following the collapse Traditional text, remembered by composer from childhood (E) of the Roman Empire. The existence of good people who achieved ‘the Premiere: 4 July 1996 Westminster Abbey, London construction of new forms of community within which the moral life Choir of Westminster Abbey conducted by Martin Neary could be sustained’ is compared with similar activities today leading to the conclusion that there is therefore ‘hope’. What we are waiting for is Level v a ‘very different Saint Benedict’. CD track 8 This piece has the MacMillan ‘wow’ factor. It is not easy, but neither Audio clip www.boosey.com/cr/sample_detail/10787 is it beyond the reach of a hardworking ordinary choir. His political This is an extremely touching tribute piece composed following the views, often enshrined in his choral music, are as expressive and horrific slaughter of primary school children at Dunblane in Scotland. powerful as his religious views and this piece will undoubtedly The words (traditional) are direct in their simplicity and MacMillan fire up the imaginations of choral directors and singers alike. The includes an alternative final line for more general use than the intensely rhythmic nature of the setting of this prose, the imaginative Communion service to which the original text refers. humming colours with closed and open signals as the crescendos and diminuendos bite, the ferocity of expression, the impetus given by The lament-like chords of the first section with low bass notes streams of moving quavers hummed above the pounding text, and the underpinning them seem to carry the weight of the heart’s sorrow. wholly unexpected and mesmerizingly beautiful utterances of ‘Saint Gradually the high-voiced duet of children’s voices takes off and soars, Benedict’ with which the piece ends, all of this adds up to a quite like the souls of the murdered schoolchildren, building to a climax remarkable tour-de-force. before winding down to a quiet ending for the two soloists alone. 2 while his Mass written for the Millennium is liturgically the highly effective anthems Christus Vincit and A New conceived but could be equally successful as a concert Song are eminently performable by a wide range of choirs. work. The composer’s understanding of the rhetorical Seinte Mari moder milde, written for the famous Carol power of voices gives the ‘mystical coda’ at the end of Service at King’s College, Cambridge, should be taken up The Birds of Rhiannon (the only choral section) an widely for use during the festive season. Secular works extraordinary emotional impact which brings the whole with a Scottish flavour include the Robert Burns settings work into focus on another plane. The Gallant Weaver and So Deep. There are also several short works which can be used as This music will richly repay your investment of time and anthems or as part of the liturgy. The Magnificat and Nunc interest and I urge you to explore further. Dimittis will give church and cathedral choir directors a welcome new setting in a contemporary idiom which is Paul Spicer, 2009 easily approachable. His Missa Brevis is also aimed at the average church choir with ambition. Harking back to great Elizabethan models its linear writing gives it a beauty Paul Spicer is acknowledged as one of the UK’s leading choir trainers. and stature rare in contemporary church music. His two He works as a conductor, composer and producer for radio and recordings, congregational Mass settings emphasise his commitment is a writer, and teaches choral conducting techniques. to the role of music in the wider community. In addition, www.paulspicer.com As a gentle introduction to the distinctive world of MacMillan’s music Premiere: 14 May 2007 St Columba’s Church, Maryhill, Glasgow this is a good starting point for most choirs (basses need low Es). Strathclyde University Chamber Choir conducted by Alan Tavener 979-0-060-10636-1 Choral score on sale Level v 8Hyperion CDA 67219 Choir of Westminster Cathedral/Martin Baker Data est mihi omnis potestas is a richly scored, uplifting, celebratory motet for one of the major feast days of the Christian year. The opening rising interval (a 9th in the first soprano and first tenor, and 7ths and 5ths in the other parts) launches the piece in a heavenward trajectory and the double choir scoring gives it a surround-sound blaze of Christus Vincit (1994) 6’ musical light. It creates a memorable impression. for double choir (SSAATTBB) a cappella, with treble/soprano solo A second section gives the ATB an accompanying role whilst the Text from the Worcester Acclamations (tenth century) (L) sopranos sing Monteverdi-like cadenza passages in falling thirds. Roles Commissioned by the Musicians Benevolent Fund for the 1994 St Cecilia’s Day are reversed at the end with these passages being given to the T/Bs. Service in St Paul’s Cathedral and in memory of Sir Thomas Armstrong. A final outburst of three sky-rocketing Alleluias ends the motet. Slightly Premiere: 23 November 1994 St Paul’s Cathedral, London more challenging than the other motets in the Strathclyde Motets Joint choirs of Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and St Paul’s series but still very straightforward in terms of MacMillan’s output. Cathedral conducted by John Scott Issues of blend and balance highlighted by the double choir scoring will probably use more rehearsal time than note-learning. Level w CD track 19 979-0-060-119538 Choral score on sale Audio clip www.boosey.com/cr/sample_detail/10791 8Linn Records CKD 301 Cappella Nova/Alan Tavener This imaginative short anthem makes creative use of double choir forces.