MacMillan

<< Continued from yesterday

MacMillan's last stage in this way of the Cross and beyond is a three-movement Symphony with two movements much shorter than the last.

It reflects on the soul's journey from darkness to light and reintroduces elements from the other two works of the Triduum. Light, the first movement, is subterranean in sounds and atmosphere without violins (click here to listen) and with no spark of light until its end. Tuba insonet salutaris, the middle movement, bundles hopes and fears, looking backwards and forwards, repetitive episodes, pauses - the melée of uncertainty (click here to listen) - until the very end, and...?

The final movement dominates and partly diminishes the other two. It is an apotheosis of dance and a unification of elements in the drama. (Click here to listen.) James MacMillan's highly disciplined yet wonderfully decorative triptych is a work to travel the world for the significance of its achievement.

 Copyright © Basil Ramsey, June 7th 1999