Wayne Marshall, BBC Philharmonic, James MacMillan - James MacMillan: A Scotch Bestiary, Piano Concerto No.2 (2006)

Listeners familiar with Scottish composer James MacMillan through such acclaimed works as The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (1990) or the Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993) may suspect that his music is usually somber and more than a little dour; indeed, his religious and politically themed pieces are quite earnest, and have given some the feeling that it might do MacMillan good to lighten up. Well, he has, though perhaps not to the point where his music is genuinely lighthearted or funny, though that appears to be the intention in his variations for organ and orchestra, A Scotch Bestiary (2003-2004). These characterizations of animals, organized into two unequal movements -- I. The menagerie, caged, and II. The menagerie, uncaged -- have a sharp, satirical edge that keeps the listener alert for stylistic references and quotations. But there is little obvious in MacMillan's music, and unless one is fully aware of the humans he is mocking (i.e., types well-known in Scotland and presumably identifiable elsewhere) the musical jokes fall flat. Because of its veiled allusions and unduly harsh music -- rarely tonal, and stridently dissonant in many spots -- this piece is not a light zoological frolic in the vein of Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals, and buyers should beware. The Piano Concerto No. 2 (1999, 2003), which has been choreographed as a ballet, is an energetic work that evokes both Celtic dances and minimalism in an odd mixture of vigorous rhythms and hypnotic repetitions; the kinetic opening of the piece is balanced with soft reflections for the strings in the slow middle movement, and comic parodies in the closing movement. Because of its tunefulness and rhythmic vitality, this work is actually more fun than A Scotch Bestiary, and demonstrates that MacMillan can be quite witty after all. Wayne Marshall's virtuosic playing of both the organ and the piano is interesting to hear and compare, and the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by the composer, is vibrant, colorful, and focused in these excellent-sounding premiere recordings.