Is James MacMillian Spreading Himself Too Thin?

James MacMillan is one of Scotland’s most successful composers. But in recent years, besides his busy composing schedule, he has developed a whole other career conducting. This leads some critics to wondering if “all this conducting – he’s also lined up with orchestras in Japan and Europe – is diluting his compositional output, or if it might even be a way for him to deliberately lighten the compositional load.” There is some evidence…