Page 250 - FINAL_The Sixteen Coverage Book 40th Anniversary Year

8 November 2019

Sacred Works by James MacMillan @ Tully Hall

Above: Sir James MacMillan

~ Author: Oberon
Thursday November 7th, 2019 - On this long-awaited evening, the Britten Sinfonia and The
Sixteen gave the US premiere performances of two sacred works by the Scottish composer Sir
James MacMillan as part of Lincoln Center's White Light Festival. MacMillan, who received his
knighthood from Prince William at Windsor Castle in 2015, was also named Catholic of the Year by
the Catholic Herald that same year.

I first heard the Scots composer's music as the score for Christopher Wheeldon's
ballet SHAMBARDS at New York City Ballet in 2004. The ballet was widely criticized for depicting
the physical abuse of the main female character. I think I was the only person who caught the
quote from Donizetti's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR in the music: in that opera, set in Scotland,
Lucia is bullied and physically tormented by her brother. Upon hearing that musical theme, the
ballet made perfect sense.

In 2015, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performed MacMillan's dazzling Piano Concerto #3, Mysteries
of Light, with the New York Philharmonic on a program conducted by Stéphane Denève; this was a
revelation. Illness prevented me from hearing another MacMillan work performed live: his violin
sonata, Before the Tryst, performed by Simone Lamsma at Weill Hall; my co-writer Scoresby
wrote about it here.
Both works on this evening's program Alice Tully Hall were written by Mr. MacMillan specifically for
The Sixteen: Miserere (2009) and Stabat Mater (2015). The seventy-minute program was
blessedly given without intermission, making for an immersive musical and spiritual experience
thru music which sounds at once ancient and of our time.
Set on Latin texts drawn from verses of the 51st Psalm, James MacMillan's Miserere is an a
cappella work; the Sixteen's conductor Harry Christophers, had his esteemed singers ranged on
risers on a stage specially lit of the occasion. The men of The Sixteen sing first, joined soon by the
women. The effect of their enchanting harmonies, their dynamic finesse, haunting sustained tones,
and silences that resonate cannot really be described; they have to be experienced in
a live setting.

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