Leading Netherlands label Challenge Classics is to release a new series of key recordings of the music of James MacMillan, all conducted by the Scottish composer himself. One of today’s most prolific and successful living composers, MacMillan is increasingly recognised internationally as a conductor of real distinction. He became Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic at the end of 2010, and this proposed four-CD recording project is part of his commitment to the Dutch orchestra.  Each of the discs – recorded in the studio, not concert performances – includes a world premiere recording. On the first (CC72540), which will be released in the UK (by Proper Note) on 23 July, the premiere is MacMillan’s 2002 concerto for solo violin, ensemble and tape, A Deep But Dazzling Darkness. It’s played by Serbian violinist Gordan Nikolić who also gave its first performance at the opening of LSO St Luke’s in 2003. Other works on this first CD are Í (A Meditation on Iona)for string orchestra and percussion, and the percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, with fellow Scot Colin Currie as soloist. Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, premiered at the 1992 BBC Proms by Evelyn Glennie, has been heard a remarkable 400 times in the 20 years since then. It has been recorded twice before (by Glennie and the percussionist on this Challenge CD, Colin Currie) but this may be regarded as the definitive recording as it is the only one conducted by the composer.  On the second disc, scheduled for a November release, MacMillan conducts the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber Choir in the premiere recording of O, the Advent antiphon for choir, trumpet and strings dating from 2008, as well as the version for choir and orchestra of Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, and his early orchestral pieceTryst. Planned for spring 2013, the third recording brings together …as others see us… and several works for chamber orchestra with soloist: Kiss on Wood, for cello and string orchestra, From Ayrshire, for violin and orchestra, and Tuireadh, arranged for clarinet and strings. The soloists, each of whom has already recorded chamber music discs for Challenge, are Julius Berger, Linus Roth, and Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer respectively. Kiss on Wood, originally a 1991 piece for violin and piano, is heard here in the world premiere recording of the 2008 version for cello and strings. Recent performances of MacMillan’s music include the Dutch premiere of his Violin Concerto (by Vadim Repin with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic conducted by the composer, in April) for which the renowned Zaterdag Matinee concert series at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw was a co-commissioner.