The first disc in a new recording partnership between Hebrides Ensemble and
Delphian Records presents Sir James MacMillan's extraordinary setting – by
turns intimate and dramatic – of the Resurrection story as told in St
John's Gospel. As at the work's premiere at the 2012 Edinburgh International
Festival, the Ensemble and its director William Conway (the work's dedicatee)
are joined by bass Brindley Sherratt in the role of Christ, and by a quartet
of
singers from Synergy Vocals. A significant landmark in MacMillan's career,
Since it was the day of Preparation … now inaugurates a series of recordings
set to document Hebrides Ensemble's outstanding contribution to Scottish
cultural life.
“Sherratt is very fine as Christ. The music he has to sing is dignified and eloquent and Sherratt puts it across with great conviction…No less impressive are the four members of Synergy Vocals, whether singing as a consort or individually. All four voices are clear, both in terms of tone and diction; they are ideally suited to the music.” MusicWeb International, June 2016
“Since it was the day of preparation is on the face of it a chamber piece, with just ten performers needed. Yet in an extraordinarily perceptive and affecting manner it broaches enduring universal issues and, in this wonderfully committed recording, already feels like a modern masterpiece.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2016 *****
“Macmillan's work is a musically entertaining, dramatically satisfying piece of theatre, not a dull slab of dutiful contemplation… this is as authoritative a reading as we're ever likely to hear.” The Arts Desk, July 2016