A month or so back in this column, I reported on a packed Scottish Chamber Orchestra schools concert at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall when animateur Paul Rissman had the assistance of composer James MacMillan to introduce and explain the performance of percussion concerto Veni Veni Emmanuel with soloist Colin Currie.
As MacMillan strode on to the stage, the place erupted with a-whoopin' and a-hollerin' that is not the accustomed experience of contemporary composers, even, I suggested, our most successful modern one.
The fact that the largest contingent of youngsters in the hall were from MacMillan's alma mater, Cumnock Academy, was one reason for the cheering. Perhaps so, but last weekend I found myself in another venue in the company of the same composer and something very similar happened, without any such obvious explanation.
The concert at Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh was the last date of The Choral Pilgrimage 2013 by chamber choir The Sixteen, which began in Guildford Cathedral back in March. The programme, entitled The Queen Of Heaven, had only one other Scottish date - Perth Festival of the Arts in May, prior to which The Herald carried the fruits of a conversation I had had with the group's founder and conductor Harry Christophers.
The Queen Of Heaven programme paired the music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina with that of MacMillan, adding Christophers's new revision of Gregorio Allegri's Miserere, arguably the most popular single piece of early choral music in recent times, to that rich mixture. MacMillan, Christophers told me at Greyfriars on Saturday, is the "saviour of church music" now, just as Palestrina had been during the Renaissance. The 2013 concert eloquently and unequivocally argued that case, with the Scots composer's own version of Psalm 51's Miserere text and a selection of his beautiful motets becoming every bit as essential to the glorious success of the programme as the celebrated early music it was woven between.
It was standing room only at Greyfriars and the merchandise stall was a rammy at the interval as people stocked up on The Sixteen's chart-topping discs, so MacMillan's presence towards the front of the audience had very likely passed unnoticed by most. When conductor Eamonn Dougan invited him up to take a bow, the reception may not have been quite as shrill as the one in Glasgow's big hall in front of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, but it was no less startling - cheers and stamping as well as applause, as folk announced their glee at discovering the man was in their midst.
In less than a year's time, MacMillan will be presiding over a new festival he is creating in Cumnock with his wife Lynne. He has been clear they intend it to become what Sir Peter Maxwell Davies made St Magnus in Orkney or Benjamin Britten built in Aldeburgh. At the start of last month it was launched at a hotel in the town where the young composer heard his first chamber music recitals. There was music from school children, some of them very possibly the ones who had hailed him in Glasgow a couple of weeks previously, and another local musician, violinist Nicola Benedetti from West Kilbride.
That day MacMillan told me that, if The Cumnock Tryst proves successful, he intends to devote the rest of his life to the project. Support for it has already come from all quarters, and the large number of people in senior positions in the arts who made their way to deepest Ayrshire for the launch event, which kept many of its cards close to its chest, spoke of the composer's acknowledged status - but the affection and regard in which MacMillan is held by the people of Scotland will be as crucial as anything to its success. The programme is under wraps until the spring of 2014, and it will be no surprise at all if the opening choral concert features the choir who performed his music on their Pilgrimage this year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article