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When I first heard that Trinity College was putting out a recording of all American music I started salivating. I had the opportunity to hear them live on their home turf last year. Our study abroad group made a stop in Cambridge to listen to Trinity College sing evensong last spring. During that evensong, they sang two American works, one of which ended up on this recording. I was blown away...
This album is a dual celebration of sorts; American choral music coming into its own as a distinct and vibrant force particularly in the last couple of decades; and its emergence as a powerful voice on the British cultural scene as well. 20 years ago it would be difficult to imagine this choir recording this music; the great British tradition was reserved for the great English choral music,...
Stephen Layton and the Trinity College Choir unearth choral works of rare beauty.
First, a health warning: it is impossible to do anything else but listen once the opening track of this glorious album begins. Don’t pop it on your iPod if you’re planning on walking anywhere quickly as you’re more likely to find yourself staring off into the distance wistfully instead. And it will keep you...
Hyperion has done it again, with this stunning album of mostly sacred choral works by the younger-generation Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds, perfectly performed by Stephen Layton’s ever-welcome Polyphony and Carolyn Sampson, one of our finest sopranos— supported by the strings of the Britten Sinfonia. Layton, like many of his top-tier colleagues, can’t resist the remarkable flood of new music...
Within seconds I knew I was going to adore this CD and the music of Eriks Ešenvalds … This is a performance of considerable impact, not least in the second movement when the electrifying choral cries of 'Crucify' dissolve so magically into calm, plainchant-inspired music above which Carolyn Sampson floats with angelic luminosity … If the music wasn't so utterly gorgeous, I would happily devote...
De Letse componist Eriks Ešenvalds speelt een wonderlijk spel met de beleving van gezongen tekst. Er is volop tekst die we kunnen verstaan en begrijpen, maar Ešenvalds voegt eigenzinnig verschuivende harmonieën en etherisch voortspinnende melodieën toe die de tijd stil lijken te zetten en die contact met de gezongen taal haast irrelevant maakt. Met name in Passion and Resurrection ontstaat een...