Page 213 - FINAL_The Sixteen Coverage Book 40th Anniversary Year

29 August 2019

James MacMillan: Into the unknown

by Joanna Moorhead

Harry Christophers conducts the premiere of James MacMillan’s Fifth Symphony
Photo: Photo: Adrian Myers

A new work by Britain’s leading Catholic composer draws breath from the Holy
Spirit

The quickest way to change your psychological state couldn’t be simpler: you
breathe. Breath is the only automatic bodily function we can also consciously control,
and breathwork is tremendously effective. If you don’t believe me, put down your
copy of The Tablet and take 10 deep breaths, in through the nose and out through
the mouth, concentrating only on what you’re doing. How’s that for an instant de-
stress?

So it seems entirely apt that the newest work by leading Catholic composer James
MacMillan, which had its premiere at the Edinburgh Festival on 17 August, opens not
with music, but with breathing – the sound of change, though not usually the sound a

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