Seven Last Words from the Cross

Scottish composer James McMillan's work Seven Last Words from the Cross is a stunning piece of contemporary music. It's a droning, shuddering atonal drift which is performed with strings and voices, but somehow seems to invoke the timbres of electronics and humming machinery as well.. perhaps what you'd get if you crossed Surface of the Earth with Mahler's 8th, or something.

My attempts to buy a recording of this work have always been stymied; I still have the cassette I recorded a copy of it off the radio about 10 years ago, and I listen to it often.

A rare occasion to see and hear the work performed is upon us; the Tudor Consort is collaborating with Gate Seven Orchestra and presenting a performance of Seven Last Words from the Cross on Saturday August 21 at Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral. You can book at Ticketek.