Bach: St John Passion (CD Review - SINFINIMUSIC.com, 2013)

sinfinimusic.com Andrew Stewart listens to Stephen Layton and Polyphony's recording of Bach's St John Passion and finds a true believer's response to the music and story 5***** There are times when performers are collectively caught by great music like a deer in headlights. Stephen Layton and his colleagues soar high above the trap set for over-reverent interpreters, those who dwell too deeply on

Bach: Christmas Oratorio (CD Review - Sinfini Music, 2013)

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio started life as a set of related cantatas, conceived for performance on the six church feasts between Christmas Day and Epiphany. The composer recycled several earlier works - secular pieces for the Elector of Saxony and his family among them - to create a compelling mix of choral numbers, recitatives and arias which collectively tell the Nativity story and meditate on it