Bringing mystical spirituality to a secular concert hall
‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.’ This thought-provoking verse from Hebrews 13:2 inspired James MacMillan’s new oratorio, Angels Unawares, which received its UK premiere at Cadogan Hall on Tuesday, 2 June, following its world premiere in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday, 22 March. The piece was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation and forms part of the composer’s latest series of works with ‘angelic themes’. It is divided into two parts, with stories from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, and traces unexpected encounters with angels across the Scriptures. Beyond MacMillan’s oratorio, the programme at Cadogan also featured Thomas Tallis’ Why fum’th in fight, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, and another of MacMillan’s choral works: Nothing in Vain. All were performed beautifully by the talented musicians of The Sixteen and Britten Sinfonia. Soloists Elizabeth Watts (soprano) and Matthew McKinney (tenor) are likewise deserving of high praise, for they inhabited each biblical character with astonishing musical vigour.
One of the most striking movements in Angels Unawares was ‘IV: The Song of Tobias’. The libretto, written by Robert Willis, follows the ancient narrative in the Book of Tobit, in which Tobias is unwittingly accompanied on a journey by the Archangel Raphael. Throughout their time together, Tobias assumes that the angel is a man – a young Israelite – and is extremely perplexed when Raphael reveals his true identity as a celestial being. His shock is what lends MacMillan’s ‘Song of Tobias’ its poignant refrain: ‘How could I not have known?’ Tobias asks. ‘The angel walked beside my every step […] How could I not have known?’ Tenor, Matthew McKinney, performed the refrain with such power and agonising disbelief that many people in the audience visibly shuffled forwards in their seats. What was so impressive about it was that he was not only able to convey the raw potency of revelation; he was also able to lend Tobias’ astonishment a different significance each time. As a soloist, McKinney clearly exercises amazing control over whatever character he brings to the stage. Soprano, Elizabeth Watts, possesses the same talent. She too is a commanding presence in a concert hall, capable of channeling an entire personality into a single performance, as she did in ‘X: The Song of Mary of Magdala’.
The only potential downside of the performance was the venue. While Cadogan is an excellent space, it does not have the same acoustics as a hard, lofty ecclesiastical building like a church or a cathedral. Ethereal grace notes, dramatic pauses and luminous polyphonic textures only work so well in a venue where sound cannot linger. As such, the Sistine Chapel – where the piece had its world premiere – was arguably much better suited to a programme of this sort, especially in the purely choral sections. However, this is a minor quibble and does not detract from the wonderful performance given by The Sixteen, Britten Sinfonia and soloists. Together, they managed to bring mystical spirituality to the secular concert hall.