James MacMillan – Christmas Oratorio, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

If lockdown is inducing a sense of endless waiting, then spare a thought for Scotland’s greatest living composer James MacMillan (pictured), who spent all of 2019 writing a Christmas Oratorio without hearing a single note, except what he could sketch out himself at the piano. When plans for the premiere at London’s Southbank Centre last December were derailed by Covid, it was back to waiting again – until this week.

Last weekend MacMillan was finally able to conduct the delayed premiere of his work in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. The hall may have been empty, but live radio broadcast ensured that listeners could hear a work that might just be the most personal musical statement of faith yet from the Catholic composer.