Cappella Nova and Alan Tavener – MacMillan: Consecration (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

This album ranges widely over Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan’s substantial output of sacred music and gathers together a few pieces that haven’t made it into the studio, such as the lovely St Anne’s Mass. Many of the pieces have personal significance, including works written for the weddings of family members and a Requiem Mass for his father. The largest here, The Culham Motets—written for the consecration of a chapel—is ambitious music, full of colour, and MacMillan strikes the perfect note. The smaller works are beautifully done and Cappella Nova’s singing, captured gloriously by producer/engineer Philip Hobbs, is breathtaking.

Cappella Nova has a longstanding reputation of championing contemporary music, and its latest album “Consecration” is no exception. Comprising world premiere recordings in a programme specially curated by Sir James MacMillan, it includes a very personal selection of the composer’s recent choral works. The sequence of five Culham Motets, written for the consecration of the Chapel of Christ the Redeemer at Culham Court on 9 December 2015, show MacMillan at his transcendently numinous best in an emotional and technical tour de force, setting texts of visionary and mystic ceremonial power. “Consecration” also includes MacMillan’s well-beloved St Anne’s Mass along with a fascinating collection of works written for family occasions: the weddings of two of his children and his father’s Requiem Mass. This is the fourth instalment of Cappella Nova’s celebrated MacMillan series on Linn.

Tracklist:
1-01. Graham Neal – I. Lift High the Ancient Portals (05:20)
1-02. Cappella Nova – II. I Saw Water Flowing (08:48)
1-03. Rebecca Tavener – III. See the Place Where God Lives (10:09)
1-04. Graham Neal – IV. From the Hand of the Angel (04:31)
1-05. Cappella Nova – V. Your Light Will Come, Jerusalem (04:15)
1-06. Cappella Nova – Beatus Andreas (05:35)
1-07. Cappella Nova – Wedding Song (04:16)
1-08. Libby Crabtree – Behold, You Are Beautiful, My Love (05:05)
1-09. Cappella Nova – Until the Day Breathes (03:05)
1-10. Steven McIntyre – Kenga e Krushqve (04:35)
1-11. Rebecca Tavener – Lux aeterna (03:11)
1-12. Graham Neal – A Special Appeal (07:01)
1-13. Cappella Nova – St Anne’s Mass: I. Kyrie (00:52)
1-14. Cappella Nova – St Anne’s Mass: II. Gloria (02:30)
1-15. Cappella Nova – St Anne’s Mass: III. Sanctus (01:43)
1-16. Cappella Nova – The Lord’s Prayer (01:58)
1-17. Cappella Nova – St Anne’s Mass: IV. Agnus Dei (01:24)
1-18. Cappella Nova – Sing Joyfully to the Lord (06:20)