The Music of James MacMillan
Phillip Cooke is the author of the first scholarly study of MacMillan's life, work and aesthetic.
Known for his orchestral, operatic and choral works, James MacMillan appeals across the spectrum of contemporary music making. From his beginnings in rural Ayrshire and his early work with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, through the international breakthrough success and his current position as one of the most prominent British composers of his generation, this book scrutinises MacMillan's compositional influences over time. It looks closely at his most significant works, setting them in a wider context defined by contemporary composition, culture and the arts in general.
14/08/18: I have recently finished the first draft of The Music of James MacMillan which will eventually be published by Boydell & Brewer in 2019. More information in due course.
30/08/18: First draft sent to the publishers - fingers crossed they don't hate it!
26/09/18: Draft back from publishers - only a few changes to make! All systems go...
27/09/18: Front cover done, looks great (portrait by Calum Colvin)
02/11/18: All done and dusted, just need to dot a few i's and cross a few t's then I'm finished!
02/11/18: First fruits of all this work, a short article in Cathedral Music for MacMillan's 60th birthday!
08/03/19: Copy edits received and a lovely foreword by Dame Evelyn Glennie as well! Almost done!
18/03/19: Copy edits and index done! Think that is everything...
10/05/19: Book due for publication on 21 June 2019!
06/06/19: Received my copies today! It looks fantastic!
19/07/19: Really nice to have the book quoted from on BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week, which was on MacMillan.
14/08/19: First book launch, at Blackwell's bookshop in Edinburgh. A good audience and an interview with MacMillan.
15/09/19: Excellent review of the book in The Scotsman from Ken Walton: 'Cooke uses...clinical precision and empirical fairness’ and ‘his unpretentious forensic analysis avoids needless detail’. But I like: ‘Cooke’s book is an inspirational basis for future research and fuller biography’ the most...
02/11/19: Good book launches at the Cumnock Tryst and Sound Festivals. Sold some books as well...
11/02/20: Honorary mention in the New York Times, calling the book 'an incisive study', which was nice.
14/06/20: Really nice review by fellow MacMillan scholar Sarah Moerman in Music & Letters. ‘It is at once a comprehensive resource and an engaging read; and will benefit scholar and musician alike.’ Cheers.
03/10/20: Nice mention in The Telegraph, which namechecks the book and refers to me as ‘an authority on MacMillan.’ Which I suppose I am?
18/10/20: A 70/30 review from Joseph Sargent in the North American British Music Society, plenty of nice things (‘The resulting book is a comprehensive and enlightening study of the composer, interweaving biography and analysis with strands of religion, culture, and politics’) and some harsher things (‘Descriptions of individual works sometimes read like a travelogue of major events from beginning to end, as if Cooke is writing program notes rather than a scholarly biography’) but generally fair.