''Quickening'' is a cantata for

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist ( ...

, two

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors i ...

s, two baritones, children's choir, chorus, and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

by the Scottish composer

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

. The work was co-commissioned by

The Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert H ...

and the

Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscripti ...

and was completed in 1998. Its world premiere was performed by the

Hilliard Ensemble The Hilliard Ensemble was a British male vocal quartet originally devoted to the performance of early music. The group was named after the Elizabethan miniaturist painter Nicholas Hilliard. Founded in 1974, the group disbanded in 2014. Althoug ...

, the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

& Chorus, and the Westminster Cathedral Boys' Choir under the direction of Andrew Davis at

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

, London, on 5 September 1999. The journalist

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson (born 1962) is an English journalist, editor and author. He is an associate editor of ''The Spectator''. Previously he worked as editor-in-chief of the ''Catholic Herald'' and for ''The Daily Telegraph'' where he was religious a ...

of ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' described it as "one of MacMillan's masterpieces."

Composition

Background

''Quickening'' is set to text by the British poet and frequent MacMillan collaborator Michael Symmons Roberts. It is written in

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

and English, but also features the use of

glossolalia Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...

(speaking in tongues). The religious theme of the work draws upon the phenomenon of childbirth, with a boys' choir particularly used to evoke the journey of an unborn child.

Structure

The piece has a duration of roughly 48 minutes and is composed in four movements: #Incarnadine #Midwife #Poppies #Living Water

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a countertenor, two tenors, baritone, children's choir,

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part ...

chorus, and a large orchestra consisting of two flutes,

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the s ...

, three

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

s (3rd doubling

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an al ...

), three clarinets (3rd doubling

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave ...

), two bassoons,

contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Differences from the bassoon The reed is cons ...

, four horns, four

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

s, three

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th&n ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditiona ...

, four percussionists, harp,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

(doubling

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five- octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ...

chamber organ Carol Williams performing at the West_Point_Cadet_Chapel.html" ;"title="United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel">United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel. In music, the organ is a keyboard instrument of one or mo ...

, grand organ (or synthesizer), and strings.

Reception

''Quickening'' has been highly praised by many music critics. Reviewing the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

premiere in Philadelphia, Peter Dobrin of ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Penns ...

'' wrote, "The best thing about ''Quickening'' - one of the orchestra's centennial commissions - is that it is very much of our time. MacMillan's musical language is all his own, and the emotional message behind it speaks for this era in a way that very few works do. It's chaotic, vaguely spiritual, obstreperous, and full of simultaneously conflicting messages about what we should be feeling." Despite noting that "a lot of the concrete associations acMillantries to get across in the piece didn't ring true" with him, Dobrin concluded, "But music doesn't need, or even always benefit from, a tangible relationship with real life. The pure sonic experience is more than enough reason to justify the investment of mental adrenaline needed to listen." John von Rhein of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' later described the piece as an "arresting meditation" and wrote, "None of MacMillan's effects come across as meretricious, certainly not the murmurous Babel of mixed choral voices at the beginning or the magical hush of 'unborn' children's voices with solo violin at the end. Those two sections, 'Incarnadine' and 'Living Waters,' frame two darker central tableaux, 'Midwife' and 'Poppies,' that erupt in spasms of orchestral agitation undergirding powerful surges of choral declamation." Lawrence A. Johnson of the ''Chicago Classical Review'' similarly remarked, "''Quickening'' is a big, complex and multifaceted work with a lot to take in at first hearing. MacMillan's distinctive brand of musical 'muscular Christianity' is here at his most flamboyant and audacious, with largely successful results. The composer wields his vast forces with skill and panache, particularly in his writing for brass and his favored percussion, often making a dazzling and brilliant effect." Andrew Achenbach of ''

Gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

'' called it, "A powerful experience, in sum, and a work well worth getting to know." Putting a contrary view (reviewing the work's première) was John Allison in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'',September 7, 1999, p.44 who found the work "..."big" only in terms of its duration and the vast forces it employs: the absence of developed, large-scale ideas in MacMillan's music is becoming a worrying trend...". Allison went on to say that "the score is no greater than the sum of its parts: acclaim has come easily to MacMillan, but now it is surely time for less self-indulgence".

Recording

A recording of ''Quickening'' was released through

Chandos Records Chandos Records is a British independent classical music recording company based in Colchester. It was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.CBSO Chorus & youth chorus, and the BBC Philharmonic under the direction of MacMillan.

References

{{italic title Compositions by James MacMillan 1998 compositions Cantatas Music commissioned by the BBC Music commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra