MacMillan: Seven Last Words from the Cross

2009 “In recent years it has been an enormous thrill hearing my music being performed by The Dmitri Ensemble. This excellent, young ensemble brings a breath of fresh air to music making in this country, and are fortunate to have in their director Graham Ross one of the most exciting new musicians to appear on the radar.” James MacMillan Naxos is delighted to mark James Macmillan’s 50th birthday with this disc on Naxos, bringing together a number of different choral works from 1993 to 2005. This disc contains two world première recordings and is produced by John Rutter , who spoke of the Dmitri Ensemble in the following terms : “They are the stars of the future.” “The flying Scot is writing music with as much fervour and ingenuity as anyone on the planet….his passion and energy seem inexhaustible… he is, paradoxically, the most powerful voice in British music today - by a mile. Though fused from a thousand diverse sacred and secular influences, his pieces are instantly recognisable, intellectually coherent, fizzing with ideas, gloriously coloured, and without a whiff of pretension or obfuscation.” The Times