MacMillan, James - The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (HPS 1800)

New, corrected edition of MacMillan's breakthrough work, a sensation at the 1990 BBC Proms. The work is now firmly established in the contemporary orchestral repertoire worldwide and championed by leading conductors.

Isobel Gowdie, from Nairn, Scotland, was publically executed in 1662 amid scenes of hysterical fright and sadism, one of 4,500 who perished during the Scottish Reformation because their contemporaries thought they were witches. The composer remarks, "Initially I was drawn by the dramatic and programmatic potential of this insane and terrible story but the work soon developed a far more emotional core as I attempted to draw together various strands in a single, complicated act of contrition. On behalf of the Scottish people the work craves absolution and offers Isobel Gowdie the mercy and humanity that was denied her in the last days of her life. To do this I have tried to capture the soul of Scotland in music, and the outer sections contain a multitude of chants, songs and litanies (real and imagined) coming together in a reflective outpouring – a prayer for the murdered woman. This work is the Requiem that Isobel Gowdie never had."