Page 155 - FINAL_The Sixteen Coverage Book 40th Anniversary Year

composer is the daily feeling of whether something’s working or not,” he replies. “I’m in
the middle of writing a Christmas Oratorio. Some days are brilliant. Some days are not.

Today’s a bit of a watershed when I got going on the sixth of 14 movements. This

oratorio is going to obsess me for the rest of the year.”

But what about the next ten years? Are there particular challenges, ambitions he’s

looking forward to? “I don’t think of it that way. I think there are gaps that need to be

addressed. I’ve not written enough chamber music and I want to get back to that.”
Expect at least a couple of string quartets.

Modesty aside, has he reached a stage in his creative life where he might justifiably
claim a place in the canon of western classical music? “Whether I or other composers

have a place in the canon is neither here nor there. It’s the compunction to write that
matters. I do believe in the canon, which puts me in an unpopular professional position

in relation to some dreadful articles I’ve just been reading by young American

musicologists which basically trash it. They’re saying, because it’s essentially about
dead white European males, it deserves to be trashed and abandoned.

“Some of the worst ideas in the world come from the US, especially its universities, and

especially the kind of root-and-branch attacks on classical music from this kind of bogus
ideological position. I can see the storm clouds ahead, and all of us are going to have to

defend what is best about our classical culture.”

He may be eligible for his bus pass, but when fired up MacMillan still packs a

formidable verbal punch.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, The Sixteen, and Genesis Sixteen perform Sir

James MacMillan’s Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 5 “Le grand inconnu” at the

Usher Hall on 17 August. For details of the rest of the Sir James MacMillan at 60
series, or to book, 0131-473 2000/www.eif.co.uk

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