As for the performance it must be regarded as definitive.  John Quinn

Few composers in recent times have so unequivocally brought their faith into the concert arena as has James MacMillan. Here we have the latest in a stream of major works which express his deeply held Catholicism, and for my money it is by far and away the most effective. Combining elements inspired by plainchant, Scottish folk melody, Arabic dance (the Interlude which concludes the first part), Renaissance music, Bach, Stravinsky and Britten (most notably at the start of the second part), the language is uniquely and undeniably MacMillan’s own, as is the highly unusual decision to set a Biblical text which has rarely been set before in any period of musical history.  Marc Rochester