Though his Catholic faith has provided a central foundation of his output, and he has previously composed masses for liturgical purposes, James MacMillan's new setting of the Credo, which received its premiere in this Prom by the BBC Philharmonic under Juanjo Mena, is his first. It's a substantial piece, lasting 25 minutes, scored for medium-sized orchestra and sung by three choirs here – the Manchester Chamber Choir, the Northern Sinfonia Chorus and the Rushley Singers – who combined perfectly in this well-defined and cleanly delivered account.
As usual with MacMillan, the music speaks directly, though it is not without subtleties in the skilful choral writing, some of which reference other religious idioms, notably Renaissance polyphony, and something like the ornately decorated style of Western Isles psalm singing; there's also a brief tribute to fellow-Catholic composer Olivier Messiaen in the woodwind birdsong that ends the first movement. While not all the musical material is equally memorable, the best of it is characteristically bold and resolute.
The BBC Philharmonic's chief conductor since last September, Mena surrounded MacMillan with Wagner and Bruckner, though neither seemed to suit him. The Wagner was the Tristan Prelude, played with the rarely heard concert ending provided by the composer himself, which tacks elements of the Liebestod somewhat apologetically on to the main piece. The performance lacked breadth and a sense of direction, and specifically that sense of inevitability Wagner's long-term strategies demand.
The same problems recurred, even more damagingly, in Bruckner's Sixth Symphony, which too often felt piecemeal, with an attention to local events at the expense of the larger scheme. The slow movement, in particular, lost its thread early on and never really regained it. Sublimity felt a long way off.
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