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Classical

The music we need right now: James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio reviewed

6 February 2021

9:00 AM

6 February 2021

9:00 AM

James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio

Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, via nporadio4.nl/ntrzaterdagmatinee/gemist

London Mozart Players: Four World Seasons

stmartin-in-the-fields.org

The two most depressing words in contemporary classical music? That’s easy: holy minimalism. I know, I know. Lots of people love the stuff, and I wish them joy. But the notion that one simply jettisons the whole western tradition of struggle, of purpose, of wholehearted emotional argument — and that the greatest and most crucial of human questions can be answered by a mush of soothing stylistic mannerisms — well, I’ve tried and so far I just can’t do it.

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