Page 215 - FINAL_The Sixteen Coverage Book 40th Anniversary Year

emotions and the forces being examined in this piece.

The new work, by contrast, is of something entirely unknowable – and indeed its
alternative title is Le Grand Inconnu, the great unknown. It’s almost as though, in an
age that feels increasingly out of touch with traditional connections with God,
MacMillan (inset) is grasping the two elements he feels we cannot afford to let go of:
first, the Spirit, which he feels may have the power to speak in our secular times
(perhaps, like the sense of hearing, the Spirit is the last part of God to “go”); and
second, music, which he feels has a mystical ability to bring God into our hearts, a
characteristic he says is even acknowledged by those of no faith. So the new
symphony represents MacMillan amassing not only his greatest skills, but also his
strongest armoury: the combination of the strength of the Spirit, and the power of the
music. As he has said, in most other branches of art devotional pieces have gone by
the wayside; he is one of the few giants of the arts in the UK who is happy to own
publicly that his work is rooted in a traditional faith.

But for the Spirit and music to be fruitful, human beings have to be receptive. That
was a point made by Nichols in a pre-concert talk: he likened it to a yacht waiting for
the wind to carry it away. We are those boats, he said: the wind will blow, but we
need to have our sails ready to receive it, if it’s to be effective.

Nichols spoke, too, during a Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh the day after
the premiere, at which the chief celebrant was Archbishop Leo Cushley of St
Andrews and Edinburgh. It was attended by the Lord and Lady Provost of Edinburgh
and many civic dignitaries, and The Sixteen also performed (the first time the group
has done so in a Mass setting). There, the cardinal likened the Holy Spirit to fire, the
subject of the third section of MacMillan’s new symphony; a fire “that gives energy,
new life, that purifies and enlightens, that warms and comforts” and yet is also
“terrifying … if … we want to cling to our home comforts and avoid every fresh
challenge of following Jesus”.

Le Grand Inconnu ends with the image of fire, but it was that initial sound that was
the takeaway for me: the sound of the choir’s breathing. It seemed to be a reminder
that God is as close as this, as close as our breath; and that if we stop and listen to
it, and pay attention to it, we will also be paying attention to the divine – right where
we are, and right now.

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