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Handel: Joshua (Concert Review - Bachtrack.com, 2013)
In spite of the fact that a Handel oratorio, however renowned, provides limited opportunities for staging, this production of Joshua, directed by Charles Edwards, is a largely successful exercise in the art of the possible. The magnificent Opera North Chorus is able to flaunt itself extensively, a stripped set with backstage views is used to good effect, a terrific orchestra is tightly conducted b
Bach: St John Passion (CD Review - Gramophone Magazine, 2013)
Stephen Layton’s outstanding new St John is about as state-of-the-art a Bach Passion recording as you’ll hear. For all its referencing various traditions, the overall signposting is pitched in the ‘middle of the road’ (and I mean that simply as one likely to satisfy as broad church as any available recording) and yet it appears remarkably fresh-sounding. Take as read the urgency, clarity, balance
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: St John Passion (Concert Review - The Daily Telegraph, 2013)
For many, the story of Christ’s arrest, trial and Crucifixion finds its perfect musical incarnation in Bach’s St Matthew Passion. The St John Passion, its unruly younger sibling, is less well-known and, on the face of it, less perfect. Whereas the calm alteration of chorus, aria and recitative of the Matthew Passion is never disturbed, in the John Passion it’s soon shoved aside by the sheer urgenc
Bach: St John Passion (CD Review - Music Web International, 2013)
Bach : St John Passion - Music Web International Stephen Layton and Polyphony perform the St. John Passion every year around Easter time, usually at St. John’s Smith Square in London. This recording was made in the days that followed their performance there on 6 April 2012. Bach revised the work several times, as is explained in the excellent note by the eminent Bach scholar, Christoph Wolff; this
Bach: St John Passion (CD Review - The Daily Telegraph, 2013)
5 Stars On Good Friday at London’s St John’s Smith Square, Stephen Layton will conduct Polyphony and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Bach’s St John Passion. These Polyphony performances of the masterworks marking the church’s major festivals have become a key constituent of the concert calendar, but this is the first time that the choir has committed an extended Bach work to disc. It