James MacMillan: World's Ransoming/The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (LSO LIVE Audio CD)

Christine Pendrill (cor anglais)
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis


A high density DSD recording, live at the Barbican:
September 2003 (The World's Ransoming) February 2007 (The Confession of Isobel Gowdie)


This title from LSO Live is the 50th release on the label and the first to feature the music of James MacMillan, a composer with whom both the LSO and Sir Colin Davis have a long association.

Born in 1959, MacMillan has established himself over the past two decades as one of the world’s leading composers. He draws heavily on Catholicism, socialism and Scottish patriotism for inspiration.

The World’s Ransoming was the first of three works commissioned from MacMillan by the LSO in 1996. Inspired by liturgies on Maundy Thursday, it is essentially a concerto for cor anglais, premiered and played here again by the LSO’s principal cor anglais Christine Pendrill.

The Confession of Isobel Gowdie is the work that established MacMillan’s reputation and remains one of his most popular works. It recounts the events surrounding the brutal torture and execution of young woman who in 1662 was accused of being a witch. MacMillan uses the tale as the basis for expressing his fear of a new rise of fascism in Europe.

‘Sir Colin Davis brings this music into such vivid focus. Pendrill is, naturally, not only totally compelling but also deeply inspired in music of which she can genuinely claim some ownership. The manner in which she remains almost dispassionately unaffected by the veritable battery of assaults hurled at her from all sides of the orchestra is little short of remarkable. Sir Colin, on the other hand, is anything but dispassionate. The result is a reading of truly visionary intensity. Stunning recorded sound … offers splendid support to these intense performances’ International Record Review (UK), February 2008

‘if you have yet to sample anything by MacMillan, either of these pieces will serve as a very good introduction. On this release, Sir Colin, a conductor with a wide repertoire, and the LSO give performances with electric ensemble and superb playing … the recording is excellent – very clear so that all the complex strands can be followed, and with enough warmth … premium performances at bargain price’ ClassicalSource.com (UK), January 2008