Last time I bothered to monitor its trajectory‚ the authorised critical pendulum indicated that MacMillan had strayed too deeply into sentimentality and melodrama‚ and his stitching had become clumsy. It’s true his colours can be garish‚ his gestures histrionic‚ but his is an art of passion and commitment: these are the effects of a composer seeking to make you feel and react strongly as well as think deeply. His admixture of Celtic cultural nationalism‚ leftist politics and Catholicism may be too rich for the blood of some 21st century connoisseurs‚ but it provides affecting and memorable listening experiences. This CD resolutely demonstrates the point. As for the stitching‚ MacMillan’s influences do stand out – sharp‚ avian fanfares (Messiaen); hesitant‚ sobbing‚ ethereal melodies (Britten); unsettlingly deep sonorities (Penderecki‚ even Herrmann) particularly effective in the opening of Exsultet – but they are integrated into a pattern that is individual to MacMillan. The Magnificat‚ a BBC Millennium commission heard here in the version for choir and orchestra‚ still includes an organ part which powers the violent ensemble interjections in the closing minutes. Until then the clear‚ simply harmonised choral lines are interspersed with short‚ reflective orchestral passages. The Nunc dimittis‚ completed later‚ recasts some of the Magnificat’s material. The two pieces are effectively a diptych‚ showing MacMillan to good effect both as composer and conductor. The setting of Burns’s Gallant Weaver (1997) is MacMillan at his gentlest and most intimate‚ but this only softens you up for Rhiannon (2001)‚ inspired by a legend from the Mabinogion‚ Dark Age tales from which much of the ‘Matter of Britain’ arose. The Times described its Proms première as unwieldy and florid with overworked and impoverished motifs. Maybe the performance has since been refined: here it sounds polymorphous and full of incident. More importantly‚ there is a cogent musical argument‚ albeit not of the most sophisticated or subtle kind. MacMillan evidently thinks music should be visceral‚ and he’ll get no argument from me. He is already handsomely represented on disc‚ but this is as good an introduction as you’ll get.