Reviews
Review Search
Ein über fünfzig Jahre ausgreifendes Panorama mit Chormusik des Esten Arvo Pärt: Stephen Layton und sein Ensemble Polyphony erweisen sich als kongeniale Interpreten.
Die Musik des Esten Arvo Pärt in das Reich des allzu Leichten, auch des Gefühligen zu verweisen, ist manchem Verächter ein Bedürfnis. Doch perlt solcherlei Kritik bemerkenswert souverän an Pärt und seiner Kunst ab. Das ist bei...
Polyphony has a long association with Arvo Part’s music, including a 2003 Gramophone Award for Triodion and other choral works, also on Hyperion. This disc is their third for the label with Part (sometimes spelled Paart without the umlaut over a single a), and features music from 1963 to 2012, including Latin, German and English, Church Slavonic and Spanish languages in varied Biblical texts,...
Gramophone Editor's Choice - October 2014
It should be said, before anyone has the chance to object to the appearance of yet another disc of Pärt’s choral music, that this one is something special. In part this is because of the choice of repertoire, which mixes the familiar and the less-often heard, and includes two first recordings, and in part it is because of the exquisite sound produced by...
Stratford-upon-Avon calling. The City of London Sinfonia has embarked on a series of three Bard-based October concerts in London to commemorate the 450th anniversary year of Shakespeare's death. The first of the three stopping-off points last night was Southwark Cathedral, in some ways a logical starting-place, since the building proudly asserts its credentials as the parish church nearest to the...
You’ve got to hand it to Die Konzertisten: getting the founder of renowned choral group Polyphony to head up the group’s inaugural Counterpoint Music Festival was a stroke of genius. Yes, we appreciate it on a pun level. But it also works on a musical level. After all, few people in the choral realm have enjoyed such a fast crescendoing popularity as English conductor, Stephen Layton.
And if...
When John Rutter composed The Shepherd’s Pipe Carol for the second volume of Carols for Choirs back in 1967, he set in motion a new sound for church music with repertoire that was catchy and tuneful, easy to learn and equally enjoyable for singers and audience. Such music was fresh to the ear and quickly caught on. This CD of motets by Karl Jenkins follows a similar pattern, featuring generous,...