James MacMillan is a composer inspired by Scottish and Celtic culture and the Catholic faith. From September 2010 he has been a permanent guest conductor at the Radio Kamer Filharmonie. The collaboration has now resulted in the first part of a CD series about MacMillan, released by Challenge. The title of the opening work - A Deep but Dazzling Darkness - is taken from a poem by the 17th century poet
… Henry Vaughan. With its symbolism of light and dark, this poem speaks the language of mysticism. MacMillan, however, wouldn't be MacMillan if he didn't dramatize these pious words. For example, he makes a connection with the suffering of the Biblical Job, who (according to MacMillan) would have been the patron saint of music before St. Cecilia came into the picture. Like Michael Tippett, I have long believed in the mysterious connections between compassion and music, and this has provided the central impetus for this work, 'said the composer. The CD ends with Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, the percussion concert that MacMillan composed in 1992 for the deaf (!) Percussionist Evelyn Glennie. (HJ)more
