MacMillan: Symphony No. 3 & The Confession of Isobel Gowdie

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The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, inspired by the brutal witch-hunts that took place in post-Reformation Scotland, has become of the composer's signature works since its enthusiastic reception... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2005, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 10th Jan 2005
Catalogue No: CHAN10275
Label: Chandos
Length: 62 minutes

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Sir James MacMillan: The Confession of Isobel Gowdie

Work length25:04

Album only

Sir James MacMillan, BBC Philharmonic

Sir James MacMillan: Symphony No. 3, "Silence"

Work length37:48

Album only

Sir James MacMillan, BBC Philharmonic

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Reviews

May 2005

The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, inspired by the brutal witch-hunts that took place in post-Reformation Scotland, has become of the composer's signature works since its enthusiastic reception at the Proms in 1990. The composer's Third Symphony… here recorded for the first time. ...is a hauntingly ambivalent study at both the musical and philosophical levels, with themes and textures arising seemingly from their own absence, interacting and developing, then being allowed to return to their origins. Both works are conducted by MacMillan with the kind of passion that characterises so much of his work as a composer, internalised yet compellingly communicative. The BBC Philharmonic responds in kind with the most committed of performances...

The development of MacMillan’s art, which these two works personify, is one of the more exciting in British music in recent years, and this record joins the earlier Chandos releases of his music as an issue of major importance.

2011 edition

The emotional power of the writing is irresistable, as well as the colour and variety of the instrumentation...This performance, conducted by the composer, brings out the vividness of the writing as well as the concentration of argument.

The Confession of Isobel Gowdie is one of MacMillan's largest-scale works, which with the aid of a full symphony orchestra and a large percussion tells a dramatised version of the story of Gowdie, burnt on suspicion of witchcraft in the aftermath of the Scottish Reformation.

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