Schütz, Pergolesi, Haydn, Gounod, Franck, Gubaidulina… The works of composers who set the last words of Jesus Christ on the cross constitute, as it were, a separate musical canon. In 1993, James MacMillan joined this list. During Holy Week, the 7 Last Words from the Cross by the Scottish composer will be presented by the NFM Choir and the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra under the baton of maestro Andrzej Kosendiak. The first part of the concert will feature works by leading artists from the Baltic countries – Pēteris Vasks and Arvo Pärt, and we will also get a taste of the art of improvisation performed by cellist Krzysztof Karpeta.
The concert will open with a two-movement composition by Vasks for solo cello, entitled Grāmata čellam. The contrast between the movements is highlighted by the dynamic indications used by the Latvian as their titles: brutal Fortissimo and delicate Pianissimo. Thanks to the option left by the author, allowing the work to be performed with singing, soprano Aleksandra Turalska will join Tomasz Daroch on the cello. Right after that, we will listen to Arvo Pärt's piece – Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, a canon for string orchestra, written in honour of the British composer, who died in 1976 and whose music Pärt greatly appreciated.
James MacMillan wrote the Passiontide cantata, considered his greatest work, on commission from the BBC. It is an expression of the composer’s authentic piety, and he willingly talks about his Catholic faith in the media, standing up for his fellow believers, who are a religious minority in Scotland. The composition 7 Last Words from the Cross premiered on TV during Holy Week 1994. It is a work that is on the one hand mesmerising, on the other full of dramatic effects. MacMillan, at the end of the 20th century preoccupied with writing religious music, found himself in one line with artists of the so-called Polish school, so it should not be surprising that he is sometimes compared to them.