01. From Ayrshire - 1 - Largo, molto rubato (06:08)
02. From Ayrshire - 2 - Like a very fast reel (01:32)
03. Tuireadh (20:20)
04. Kiss on wood (06:57)
05. ...as others see us... - 1 - Henry Vlll (03:47)
06. ...as others see us... - 2 - John Wilmot (05:17)
07. ...as others see us... - 3 - John Churchill (04:15)
08. ...as others see us... - 4 - George Byron and William Wordsworth (03:44)
09. ...as others see us... - 5 - T.S. Elliot (04:22)
10. ...as others see us... - 6 - Dorothy Hodgkin (04:26)

- Third Volume of MacMillan's recordings with Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic on Challenge Classics. This new installment is devoted to works for chamber orchestra with soloists.

- James MacMillan is one of today's most successful living composers and is also internationally active as a conductor - His musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and close connection with Celtic folk music, is all blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music.

The title of From Ayrshire, scored for violin and orchestra and written in 2005 for Nicola Benedetti, arose, says the composer, from their both having Ayrshire backgrounds. The first movement is certainly nostalgic. The second is altogether more earthbound, it is an explosion of energy, a bounding release from melancholy. Melancholy is the dominant emotion in Tuireadh (1991). The work (for clarinet and string orchestra) is an instrumental requiem for those who lost their lives in the Alpha Piper North Sea oil and gas rig disaster in 1988. The title of the work is the Gaelic word for "lament", and the austere, folk-inflected quality of much of the writing suggestsprecisely a keening, a communal wailing for the departed. Kiss on wood for solo cello and strings is, as the composer said, a devotional work. ...as others see us..., scored for chamber orchestra, is a musical depiction of seven portraits in the National Portrait Gallery in London. They are all portraits of English people: Henry VIII, the poet John Wilmot (Earl of Rochester), John Churchill (Duke of Marlborough), Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot and the chemist Dorothy Hodgkin. Linking together these seven portraits of portraits, so to speak, is a Scottish dance tune, which is varied in each section in order to reflect the character of the person portrayed and the historical period.

It is something of a cliche? to observe that James MacMillan's music reflects both his spiritual and his social engagement, and that very often these two aspects of his work come together and complement each other. Nevertheless, the music on this recording shows how such concerns genuinely do make themselves felt in the composer's chamber and orchestral work. While Kiss on Wood has a specific spiritual dimension, the other three works all have links to MacMillan's native Scotland, whether historical (as in ...as others see us...), geographical (as in From Ayrshire), or mining deep cultural layers in order to react to very contemporary concerns (as in Tuireadh).

Since he won the Echo Klassik Award for his EMI debut album in 2006 Linus Roth has made a name for himself both as one of the most interesting violinists of his generation and as a champion of wrongly forgotten works and composers. The Augsburg-born cellist Julius Berger has been a permanent feature of the music scene for more than 30 years. That is not just because he is a wonderful musical interpreter. He is also in worldwide demand as a soloist and chamber musician, has released a large number of CDs and trains leading next generation musicians. Dutch clarinetist Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer (1977) studied at the Juilliard School for Music in New York with clarinetist Charles Neidich. In 1999 he made his de?but in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and performed very successfully as a Rising Star in the so named concert series in 2001-2002. Since then, Lars has played in major venues such as Carnegie Hall New York, Wigmore Hall London, Musik Verein Vienna, Cite? de la Musique Paris and Philharmonie Berlin. The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic is a versatile orchestra that covers a broad and varied terrain. The orchestra performs in various formations, from Baroque to contemporary music ensemble. Michael Schonwandt is chief conductor. Its principal guest conductors are Philippe Herreweghe, Frans Bru?ggen and James MacMillan.