Sunday 20 January 2008

James MacMillan

The composer, has an article in The Catholic Herald this week that has already been commented on by Fr Z and Fr Ray (who has a rather younger photo of him. That's what he looked like when I was a student. ) I like the way he thinks Fr Z is not that scholarly and analytical. Erm?

I like his music quite a lot and by some strange fluke recorded the premiere of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie from the R3 relay of the Proms in 88. Back in my happy teeneage 'tape it off the radio years.' I got most of the Shostakovich symphonies that way.

Anyway, MacMillan is now a very big name composer in the UK and writes good stuff, including a Mass in 2000 for Westminster Cathedral, which I went to on Corpus Christi. (Remember when it was on a Thursday.)

I also like him because he did a PhD at Durham with my tutor John Casken. Alas he left the year before I arrived, but he did come back whilst I was there. Didn't speak to him, too shy, but I did used to wonder if he went to Mass at St Cuthbert's.

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