MacMillan: Seven Last Words from the Cross; On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin; Te Deum

Seven Last Words from the Cross, for choir and strings, was commissioned by BBC television for screening in seven separate episodes during Holy Week 1994. In four of the seven movements MacMillan has supplemented the “Words” with complementary texts drawn mainly from the Good Friday Reproaches and Tenebrae Responsories. The result is a work which combines the extremes of meditation and high drama, in which the composer not only evokes atmospheres (for example in the third movement, where a heart-rendingly sweet violin melody soars above the words Venite adoremus, Come let us adore him) but also confronts and challenges the listener, witness the opening hammer-blows of the sixth movement It is finished. In the final movement, the choir’s role soon gives way to string music reminiscent of a Scottish traditional lament. Without doubt this work is a masterpiece, and in the hands of Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia the effect is breath-taking, supremely beautiful and emotionally shattering.

MacMillan’s On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, his 1997 setting for choir and organ of a captivating 17th-century poem, is a slow-moving long-phrased gem, with an especially imaginative touch at the end where a single organ line jauntily dances its way into eternity long after the voices have ceased. The final work, MacMillan’s original but very effective 2001 setting of the Te Deum, rounds off the disc in splendid fashion, with highly-decorated solo lines, dramatic use of the organ and wonderfully interactive contrapuntal lines. Paul Spicer’s booklet notes are excellent, and this disc is a must-buy, not just for MacMillan fans but for anyone with an interest in choral music or music of our time.