MacMillan: Mass & Other Sacred Music

Featuring

Martin Baker
Andrew Reid
Jonathan Brown
Robert Macdonald
David de Winter
Clifford Lister

Edmund Latham
Westminster Cathedral Choir
James MacMillan

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Recording & Production

This album was recorded in Westminster Cathedral, London, from July 10-13, 2000, with Antony Howell and Julian Millard as recording engineers and Mark Brown as producer.

Composer's Artistic Vision

MacMillan's music is known for its directness, energy, and emotional power, often incorporating Scottish folk music and reflecting his strong religious and political beliefs.

Compositional Technique

MacMillan's Mass is designed to be an 'extraordinarily complete' setting, incorporating elements beyond the Ordinary and reflecting the physical presence of Christ's body.

Composer's Artistic Vision

MacMillan acknowledges that his religious background may divide audiences, but believes composers must respond to something innate in their psychology for personal integrity.

Critical Reception

MacMillan's orchestral work, The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, launched his international career at the BBC Proms in 1990 and won the 1993 Gramophone Contemporary Music Award.

Composition History

The Mass on this disc, written for Westminster Cathedral, is one of three Mass settings by MacMillan, and the only one composed for a professional choir.

Composer Biography

James MacMillan, the composer, studied music at Edinburgh University and pursued doctoral studies in composition at Durham University with John Casken.