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Triduum (1995-97)
Born in Ayrshire, Scotland, James MacMillan was educated at Edinburgh
University and completed doctoral studies in composition at Durham
University with John Casken. After serving as a lecturer in music at
Manchester University, he returned to Scotland where he currently teaches at
the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. He was appointed
Affiliate Composer of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 1990 and also serves
as the Visiting Composer of the London Philharmonia and Artistic Director of
its contemporary music series, Music of Today. He is currently
composer-in-residence for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
MacMillan's music is described as direct, energetic and emotional, full not
only of references to Scottish folk music, but of strongly held religious
and political beliefs, including the Scottish nationalist movement. He
believes that music cannot represent humanity without also being a
corporeal, even erotic, art. He says, "I've got a funny feeling that
these labels -- like 'religious composer,' 'political composer,' 'left-wing
composer' -- are merely labels that a lot of British writers use to find
pigeonholes for me, and because there are so many labels, they've lumped
them all together in to one nonsensical one: I've seen myself described as
the Scottish Roman Catholic left-wing nationalist composer. What inspires
me most is the possible fusion, both in a theological and in an artistic
sense, between the political and the religious."
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MacMillan's works include The Berserking, a piano concerto composed for Peter Donohoe and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; Sinfonietta, commissioned by the London Sinfonietta; and Epiclesis, a trumpet concerto commissioned in 1992 by the Edinburgh Festival for John Wallace. Vocal works include the Seven Last Words from the Cross for chorus and strings, and MacMillan's first opera, Inés de Castro, commissioned by the Scottish National Opera, which received its premiere in 1996. His percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (1992) was featured at the 1996 Cabrillo Music Festival and The Confessions of Isobel Gowdie (1990), the first of MacMillan's works to draw attention, was performed at the Festival last year. Triduum is a tryptich of interrelated symphonic works composed between 1995 and 1997 commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra. All three works relate to the events and liturgies of the Easter Triduum, namely, Maundy Thursday (commemorating the Last Supper), Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, the three most important days in Holy Week which celebrate Christ's death and resurrection. The first work of the group, The World's Ransoming, was commissioned for Christine Pendrill and the London Symphony Orchestra by Lee, Larry, Desmond and Michael Benjamin, with additional financial support from the Eastern Orchestral Board. It was composed in 1995-96 and introduced on July 11, 1996 at the Barbican Hall, London, by english hornist Christine Pendrill and the London Symphony Orchestra under Kent Nagano. MacMillan notes: The World's Ransoming focuses on Maundy Thursday and its musical material includes reference to plainsongs for that day, Pange lingua and Ubi caritas, as well as a Bach Chorale (Ach, wie nichtig) which I have heard being sung in the eucharistic procession to the alter.
The work's title came about through reflection on the melody and words of
St. Thomas of Aquinas's hymn, Pange lingua:
The first movement of the Cello Concerto, entitled "The Mockery," contains music modeled on the comic songs of the music hall tradition, although the humor is predominantly black and sardonic in tone. This music is also related to the "Executioner's Song" that prefaces the final scene of my opera Inés de Castro. A stately waltz makes an appearance in the movement's middle section but both ideas are interrupted suddenly by fragments of a full-throated chorale based on the plainsong Crucem tuam adoremus, Domine, which appears entirely in the coda. In the slow second movement, most of the cello's melodic line is drawn from the plainsong for the Reproaches. These are sung during the kissing of the Cross in the Good Friday liturgy ("My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me!") The other thematic idea is a quotation from the Scottish Presbyterian hymn-tune know as Dunblane Cathedral. The final movement is based on the plainsong Crux fidelis, which includes the refrain "Dearest wood and dearest iron, dearest weight is hung on thee." The final work of Triduum, Symphony: "Vigil" was completed in 1997 and first performed that autumn at Barbican Hall in London by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich. It is scored for large orchestra and an offstage brass quintet; violins do not play in the first two movements, and violas and celli are omitted in the second. The Cabrillo Music festival performances mark the United States premiere. MacMillan comments: The idea of writing my first symphony came about through the advocacy of Mstislav Rostropovich. We first met when he conducted the United States premiere of my percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel in 1994. After the concert he asked if I would write a cello concerto for him to play and a symphonic work for him to conduct, both with the London Symphony Orchestra. I planned the Symphony: "Vigil" as the third and culminating work in a series of three interrelated orchestral pieces. This work concentrates on the Easter Vigil, the church service in which the people wait in anticipation for celebrating Christ rising from the dead. For many, this is the most moving and beautiful service in the church's year, and in the past it has inspired a number of my works, including Veni, Veni, Emmanuel. The music for the Symphony charts, in emotional terms, the progression from despair to joy, from darkness to light, from death to life. As in The World's Ransoming and the Cello Concerto, the Symphony's music includes references to the plainsong and liturgical music I associate with the Easter celebrations. It moves from the dark, hammering percussion sounds of the crucifixion of Christ, to the joyous ringing of bells to announce his resurrection, and the offer of renewed life for humanity throughout the world. The Symphony is in three movements lasting approximately 40 minutes, making it my largest orchestral work to date. Suggested recordings:
The World's Ransoming and Cello Concerto
Symphony: Vigil • Program notes by Lawrence Duckles  |
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