British composers from Stanford to Howells have preferred to get their Magnificats done and dusted in five minutes, maximum 10. Not so Ryan Wigglesworth, whose 30-minute mega-Magnificat received its UK premiere at Bridgewater Hall. Inspired, perhaps, by the expansive voice of his wife, soprano Sophie Bevan, Wigglesworth looks to Monteverdi for his model, as he explores the dramatic boundaries of what he calls Mary’s “personal manifesto”.
Gently discordant brass weaves the cocoon from which the solo soprano emerges, hushed and awestruck, as the choir chants and chatters over bass drum and tam-tam. Soon after, a quartet of trumpets break into Monteverdian fanfares stippled with pealing bells. The orchestration gleams with Byzantine half-lights, driven by rhythms striking in their contrapuntal complexities. Across five movements, Wigglesworth treats us to shimmying syncopations in the “Et exaltavit”, baleful brass for “Fecit potentiam” (late Stravinsky springing to mind) and glittering tuned percussion in Suscepit Israel.
