James Macmillan - Seven Last Words from the Cross

Gramophone

An intense, deeply felt interpretation, full of beautiful and affecting singing, with all the elements - string orchestra, featured violin, choir and soloists - nicely balanced. […] As ever, MacMillan incorporates all his allusions, including those to Scottish traditional music, into an utterly individual style. The performance confirms Polyphony's place in the front rank of choirs.

BBC Music Magazine

If you're intrigued by James MacMillan's reputation but don't know where to start with his music, this disc could be the answer. Seven Last Words from the Cross has a crucial position in MacMillan's large output. Unlike some of his contemporary 'Holy Minimalists', who try to present a transcendent alternative to the evil and pain of this world, MacMillan focuses on the suffering of Christ - God in human form, humiliated, tortured and crying out in his last moments.

The music MacMillan chooses as setting for these seven 'words' is some of his darkest and most intense, yet it is also remarkably lucid and easy to follow. At the heart is 'I thirst', music of awe-inspiring agonized simplicity. But even though the ending offers no consolation, Seven Last Words is neither maudlin nor starkly negative. This splendid new performance from Polyphony also conveys dignity and a sense (hard to explain) that the suffering is, in some mysterious way, redemptive. Easier to quantify, the singing is also remarkably secure technically, the ensemble near perfect. Beautiful, powerful playing too from the Britten Sinfonia.

Classic FM Magazine

Best buy (opera/vocal) September 2005

In the decade since Stephen Layton’s Polyphony made the premiere recording of MacMillan’s Seven Last Words, choir and conductor have matured in all the best ways. This new Hyperion disc, which includes the first recordings of the Scottish composer’s recent Te Deum and On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, offers an emotionally charged counterblast to those who glibly label MacMillan as ‘Holy Minimalist’. There’s nothing minimal in Seven Last Words, originally commissioned by BBC Television to accompany seven nightly programmes broadcast in Holy Week in 1994.

The strength of MacMillan’s Catholicism propelled him deep into the human and spiritual drama of the crucifixion, his musical response in this 45-minute cantata for choir and strings shot through with searing realism. Stephen Layton is completely in step with the composer’s aesthetic. It shows at every turn of Seven Last Words, from the cataclysmic climax of ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ to the desolation of the work’s string epilogue. What Layton demands from his musicians, he receives with interest, regardless of technical or expressive challenges. Under the care of these performers, On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin emerges as a miniature masterpiece, a work of modern worship rooted in past traditions and unchanging faith.

Andrew Stewart

The Times

Has James MacMillan written a work as effective as his 1994 Seven Last Words From The Cross? Hard to think of a rival, especially after Stephen Layton's beautifully realised performance with his choir Polyphony and the strings of Britten Sinfonia. Like Britten himself, MacMillan has a tremendous gift for making the simple resonate. Some fantastic singing here; and glorious music.

Music Week

In an ideal world, Hyperion's August disc of the month would sell by the truckload. Although its performance in the classical market is likely to fall short of that, the sheer quality of James MacMillan's Seven Last Words, the intensity of Stephen Layton's interpretation and the unrestrained, heartfelt performances of Polyphony and Britten Sinfonia should guarantee critical acclaim and strong consumer interest. The faith-based character of MacMillan's sacred music extends from the contemplative to the anguished, heard at its uncompromising best in the Seven Last Words.

Choir and Organ

*****
The two premiere recordings on this disc are the Te Deum and On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. The former is stunning, containing many of MacMillan's characteristics: beautiful contrapuntal lines often highly decorated, dramatic harmonic writing and blocks of sound from the organ. Thankfully this setting will rise above a limited liturgical use. The latter is a delicate, poignant work for five-part choir and organ that MacMillan, always sensitive to the text, does so well. Stephen Layton and Polyphony revisit the Seven Last Words to give this masterpiece a moving, introspective performance. Particular praise must be given to the sopranos, who are severely tested throughout and come through with flying colours.

CD Review - BBC Radio 3

If you want contemporary choral music that will challenge you rather than just relax you, then you might want to try this: Seven Last Words from the Cross written in 1994 by the Scottish composer James MacMillan. I think what I like most about this work is that it’s so unashamedly British in style. And while it is distinctively British, it’s not in any way parochial. MacMillan is a committed Roman Catholic, and his music springs fully-formed out of a fervent global Catholicism.

Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia are conducted with flair and considerable attention to detail by Stephen Layton. The quality of the singing is beyond reproach, and Polyphony’s performances do a great service to MacMillan’s music. Apart from the Seven Last Words there are two other pieces by MacMillan on this Hyperion CD, the most recent of which is a Te Deum written in 2001. This is the Te Deum’s first appearance on CD, and I imagine this will remain the definitive recording for some time to come. The choir has such wonderful internal resonance, over which soars the seemingly effortless Soprano of Elin Manahan Thomas.

Highly recommended, especially if you’ve yet to be convinced that James MacMillan deserves his burgeoning reputation as the finest British composer of his generation. This is first-rate music performed by a first-rate choir.

Jeremy Summerly