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Gabriel Jackson seems ubiquitous at the moment. Last year his magnificent 40-part motet, Sanctum est verum lunem received its world premiere recording as the title track of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain’s 25th anniversary disc. In June 2009, Delphian will release a CD of his sacred choral works performed by the choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh. Both are great discs, but this is...
Stephen Layton's apparently ceaseless offerings for Hyperion continue with this disc of contemplative pieces by today's sucessor to Herbert Howells, Gabriel Jackson, a composer who manages to refer reverentially to music from the early Tudor period to late Stravinksy and beyond and yet stays completely in the present in his search for the transcendent. The radiant singing of Polyphony brings to...
*****
Stephen Layton and his choir Polyphony have been performing and recording new choral works for several years now and this latest album of music by Gabriel Jackson can be seen as another installment in an inspired series which has included composers such as Thomas Adès, James MacMillan, Morten Lauridsen, Arvo Pärt, Eric Whitacre and, of course, John Tavener. Anyone who has heard this choir...
Hyperion have just released what I take to be the label’s second Łukaszewski disc. The Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross) was composed by Łukaszewski in 1999-2000 at Warsaw. The scoring of the Via Crucis is for countertenor (Evangelist), tenor (Pilate, Simon, Evangelist), baritone (Jesus), narrator, SATB chorus and orchestra. On this performance there are: 3 soloists, 1 speaker, a choir of 28 and...