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Background: The reason for the immense success of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie lies partly in the passionate involvement of the composer in his subject matter. James MacMillan had been disturbed by accounts of the executions of alleged 'witches' in his native Scotland after the Reformation.

The work is comprised of a densely textured and often violent middle part (vividly suggestive of trial, torture and mass hysteria), framed by two ravishingly beautiful elegies in the old Lydian church mode. Throughout, MacMillan makes ingenious use of chant as a unifying force.

The title of MacMillan's Symphony No.3 'Silence' (2002) is something of a riddle: how can music express or portray silence? Certainly Western classical composers have used silence to great effect, but MacMillan is thinking less of dramatic effect than of theological concept: what happens when God himself falls silent?

CATALOGUE NR: CHAN10275
RECORD LABEL: Chandos
FORMAT: CD
PRICE: £ 12.23 including VAT, or £ 10.64 excluding VAT
RELEASE DATE: 10-Jan-2005

COMPOSER: James MacMillan
TRACKS: The Confession of Isobel Gowdie. Symphony No.3 'Silence'.
ORCHESTRA: BBC Philharmonic
CONDUCTOR: James MacMillan
ARTISTS: Yuri Torchinsky      

- May-2005 5 star BBC Music Mag. - Penguin Guide 3 star

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• A New Song. Mass. Christus Vincit. Gaudeamus in loci pace. Seinte Mari Moder Milde. A Child's Prayer. Changed.

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