The Confession of Isobel Gowdie is a work for large symphony orchestra by the Scottish composer James MacMillan.
It was an instant success, receiving, according to the critic Stephen Johnson, "an ovation the like of which had rarely been seen at a British premiere since the death of Benjamin Britten".
[2] The work falls into three major sections: an opening, elegiac string section, followed by a violent middle part (according to Johnson, redolent of "trial, torture or mass hysteria"[2]) followed by a return to the more subdued atmosphere of the opening for strings, but this time punctuated by violent outbursts from the full orchestra.
It resolves on one note, in a massive crescendo to fffff which bears the hallmark of a similar motif in Alban Berg's Wozzeck.
The Confession of Isobel Gowdie is scored for the following orchestra:[3] 8 Woodwinds 11 Brass Timpani 2 Percussion Strings