O Magnum Misterium – Twentieth Centruy Carols
Bennett, Byrt, Howells, Leighton, Walton, Warlock, Wishart

Polyphony
Stephen Layton

The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs
A gloriously sung collection … captures the tranquil pastoral mood of Christmas Eve. The recording could hardly be bettered

Organists’ Review
The choir conveys Warlock’s genius quite irresistibly. These are superlative performances, beautifully recorded. A first-rate production

Independent on Sunday
November 1996

A sequence of modern music to ancient texts – linked by austere insertions of Sarum plainchant – that surveys the renaissance of interest in the art-carol among most of the leading British composers of the first half of this century (Howells, Walton, Warlock, Leighton are all represented). Stephen Layton's choir, Polyphony, is superb: one of the best mixed-voice professional ensembles in the business, with a virtuosity that doesn't turn it into the vocal machine you get from, say, the BBC Singers. This is soft, pliant, seductive singing and the most completely recommendable new issue for Christmas I've found so far.

Michael White

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