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The text of Kenneth Leighton's cantata Crucifixus pro nobis is the ecclesiastical equivalent of a snuff movie, the blue lips, gushing blood and ugly bruises of the crucified Christ's body dwells on lugubriously in the Jesuit Patrick Carey's poem, with the ostensible aim of heaping blame upon the listener.
The graphic images invite boldly expressionistic music, but...
Kenneth Leighton's remarkably consistent musical style means that his characteristic traits, such as extensive use of chromaticism and syncopation, plus intricate counterpoint, are ever present. However, anyone expecting his music to sound all the same should listen to the two radically different settings of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. The adventurous harmonic language often leads to tonal...
The text of Kenneth Leighton's cantata Crucifixus pro nobis is the ecclesiastical equivalent of a snuff movie, the blue lips, gushing blood and ugly bruises of the crucified Christ's body dwells on lugubriously in the Jesuit Patrick Carey's poem, with the ostensible aim of heaping blame upon the listener.
The graphic images invite boldly expressionistic music, but in fact for much of the time...
"Kenneth Leighton's music is at the heart of English Cathedral repertoire," so says the introduction to Hyperion's earlier disc of the composer's choral music from Wells Cathedral (CDA67641). During the couple of years I spent in Oxford it certainly seemed that way. I can remember quite vividly that his music often featured at choral evensong and other services, and I especially remember a...
There’s a perception that classical listeners have to choose between the credible and the enjoyable: liking Karl Jenkins is somehow less valid than liking Beethoven. It’s a deep-set prejudice that will take time to uproot, but albums like the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge’s Northern Lights do much to help the cause. Outrageously beautiful music, seriously and impeccably performed – this...
Layton's Choir is brilliant, make no mistake; it would also be a lie to suggest that I did not get much pleasure from this collection of the very devout composer Eriks Esenvalds. I also cannot determine how thoroughly his piety is infused into his music, always a difficult thing to determine with any composer. Compared to his previous offering that I reviewed, this one is of much softer stuff...