SUBTLE CELEBRATION

JAMES MACMILLAN talks to RODERIC DUNNETT
about composing sacred and liturgical music

<< Continued from page 5

'Although they consist of only a handful of words, traditionally the Kyries, when set to music, tend to furnish quite a substantial penitential movement that balances the Gloria. My setting is in English - it's one of these modern troped Kyries, designed so the imprecations themselves can be sung just once each, but interspersed with troped phrases which can be sung by a priest or cantor or a member of choir. Hence I set the words "You were sent to heal the contrite ... You were sent to call sinners ...You plead for us at the right hand of the Father", and these introduce the words of the Kyrie itself : "Lord, have mercy".

'The Gloria can be a tricky movement to set to music - the sense of joyousness and celebration can become rather forced, or mundane. If anything the mood in my setting is to understate : I wanted to try and fashion music that was more subtle in its celebration. Hence there's a subtle shifting between modal centres such as I haven't tried before - establishing a tonal centre but then making the tonic rise by a semitone : I suppose I wanted it to be more thoughtful - that was my instinctive reaction to the Gloria : to include lots of shade and intimacy, to offset the more celebratory moments.

'I decided I would set some additional passages - the Alleluia just before the Gloria, for instance; and I've also set the Sursum Corda, with its congregational reply, though they may not sing these at Westminster straight away, perhaps preferring to familiarise the congregation by stages. In addition, I've set the Preface - in this case I chose "Father all-powerful ...", the setting for Corpus Christi (Thurday June 22), which was the day of the Mass's first performance at Westminster : this constitutes the priest's introduction to the Sanctus and Benedictus.

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