He is popular abroad, especially in America, where his Second Piano Concerto has been circulating of late, and has just finished a third one for performance there next year.

Rostropovich asked him for a cello concerto which he premiered in 1997, Welsh National Opera premiered his second opera in 2007 and, generally, he is much in demand as a composer and as a conductor of his own music.

"I love writing music but when I knew it was going to be my life, I really didn't know what it would mean," confesses MacMillan who reaches his 50th birthday next month and began writing music instinctively at the age of 10.

He adds: "It can be an esoteric little corner of the music world and I would have been quite happy to be in that little corner and enjoy writing music.

"I don't think I have an eye on accessibility, no. I simply write what's in my head but I do have an ideal listener, someone with a kind of craving for an experience from music that they don't know.

"Luckily, there are enough of my ideal listeners out there, with an open mind, as well as open ears, to make my work worthwhile."
It doesn't bother him that Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, a percussion concerto written for fellow Scot Evelyn Glennie in 1992, remains his most often performed piece.

"I'm not annoyed that it's the most popular piece. It's a very joyous piece and there's something about the language of the music that helps with that, I suppose.

"There are other pieces of mine that maybe go in different directions as far as mood is concerned and don't have great advocates like Evelyn and Colin Currie."

There is serenity in the voice of the softly-spoken MacMillan, probably stemming from the staunch Roman Catholic faith that has always had, if perhaps not the serenity.

How does he reconcile Catholicism with been labelled a 'firebrand Marxist' in his early years.

"I don't. At one time I tried to, as many people did. I was only in the communist party in my teens, it's a youngsters' thing, and I've certainly changed a lot since then.

"I'm not proud of it looking back on it, the tragic errors that were made in the name of that political creed."

Nevertheless, he describes himself as "a political animal"

and "hardwired into that way of thinking," although he is not involved in politics any more – "it's too much of a dirty business."

Did he have political aspirations?

"Not really. I was a Labour Party branch chairman in my 20s, a member of the executive committee of our constituency party in Scotland. I was very involved but didn't have any ambitions beyond that.

"It was a fantastic learning process but what a ruthless, murky world it is. I never want to be part of it again."

He remains outspoken – "I think that's because I can't get it out of my blood!" – on certain issues, one of his favourite topics being "the interface where culture and politics meet."

His most famous verbal attack, though, was in 1999 when, a few weeks after writing fanfares for the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament, he delivered a blistering assault on sectarianism in Scotland, specifically anti-Catholicism, entitled Scotland's Shame at the Edinburgh Festival.

MacMillan's musical language can be uncompromising and have political overtones but, by and large, it reflects his strong religious beliefs and often reveals the influence of Scottish traditional music.

If he is not writing music to commission, he writes it spontaneously and in both cases it includes a lot of choral music, which obviously appeals to him.

He says: "I think that has always been the case from very early on but it seems to have taken over quite significantly in the last 10 or 15 years, for both Catholics and Anglicans.

"I have a little church choir here in Glasgow and I'm always writing for them and for the congregation."

He has written some Mass settings in recent times, including a Westminster Cathedral commission, which incorporate congregational involvement, so surely there has been some accessibility compromise.

"The music has to be tailored to suit if you're writing for the liturgy and any ego left at the door of the church. A kind of house music has to kick in, utility music perhaps, but it needn't be any less inspired."

A number of his works have been appearing and published under the heading Strathclyde Motets, 11 so far, with their origins in MacMillan's Glasgow parish of St Columba, which has links with University of Strathclyde.

He and the head of music there Alan Tavener, who has a "very good chamber choir" at the university, got talking one day with a view to the choir visiting St Columba's to sing the liturgy every so often. The visits became a reality and on each occasion MacMillan has written a motet for them.

"The three you mention are part of the first batch that have come out of the project. It's an ongoing thing and I'm very keen to continue it, mainly because I want to write music for good amateur choirs that may not be able to cope with very difficult pieces.

"There are hundreds of choirs out there that can cope if you drop the difficulty level just that little bit, so the Strathclyde Motets are ongoing for practical and liturgical reasons.

"The liturgical use is specifically Catholic but they can be done anywhere."

James MacMillan visits Sheffield for the first time a week on Friday (June 19) when he discusses his music in the University/ Cathedral Arts Festival.

The event includes performances of the three early Strathclyde Motets alluded to, Mitte manum tuam, Sedebit Dominus Rex and In Splendoribus Sanctorum, by Sheffield Cathedral Choir.

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