Reviews

In The Waste Land T S Eliot described April as the cruellest month. This performance by Layton and his band of instrumentalist and singers reminded us why this is the case and brought home the true meaning of Easter.

Bach: St John Passion (Concert Review - Seen and Heard...

"a core of emotional integrity pointing to a terrifically strong inner ear... undoubtedly responsible for Polyphony and Trinity's burnished sounds, refined but reined in with 'glow'"

Christmas Festival 2016 (Feature Interview - Early Music...

"I'm not ashamed to say I had tears in my eyes; listeners who are churchgoers and non-believers alike will find this disc a profoundly moving experience"

Briggs: Mass for Notre Dame (CD Review - Gramophone...

"When the opening work on a CD puts a smile on your face and the closing piece brings a tear to your eyes, there lies the power of music."

Ešenvalds - Northern Lights (CD Review - Classical Music...

"Their approach to Bach’s St John Passion is guided by the twin virtues of courage and commitment, sweeping reticence aside in pursuit of dramatic truths and eternal metaphors at the work’s heart."

Bach: St John Passion (CD Review - SINFINIMUSIC.com, 2013)

"This Messiah not only captures the heart, but ravishes the ear"

Handel: Messiah (CD Review - BBC Music Magazine, 2013)

"Polyphony effortlessly evoke the music's transcendent qualities in a performance awash with holy reverence. This is music and a performance that takes the ears and the mind heavenward, whatever you believe."

Jackson: Not no faceless Angel (CD Review - bbc.co.uk, 2009)

"Suddenly you are transported to a separate universe...I find no words that are adequate to describe the magic that emanates from this brilliant and poetic disc..."

Praulins: The Nightingale (CD Review - German Review, 2011)

"... it is impossible to do anything else but listen once the opening track of this glorious album begins..."

Various: Beyond All Mortal Dreams (CD Review - Classic FM...

"...the ‘Osanna’ rocking crazily, the ‘Incarnatus est’ exuding marmoreal stillness, the angular counterpoint of the ‘Confiteor’ fairly scudding along, and the ‘Sanctus’ thrusting up like a great tree out of the earth."

Bach: B minor Mass (Concert Review - The Independent, 2014)

"...only a choral wizard could have conjured up such iridescent lights and intriguing shades, majestic heights and depths of despond from the pages of Handel’s score."

Handel: Messiah (Concert Review - ClassicalSource.com, 2011)

"Stephen Layton follows the lead set by Bach...inviting listeners to enter a world of heightened spirituality and compassionate contemplation."

Bach: Christmas Oratorio (CD Review - Sinfini Music, 2013)

"the tonal blend drawn from the choir...suffused by the acoustic...is glowing, and makes the opening 'Salvator mundi' a spiritually palliative experience."

Howells: Requiem & Other Choral Works (CD Review - BBC...

"Layton’s performances inspire the soul even as they break the heart with their intense beauty"

Bruckner: Mass in E minor & Motets (CD Review -...

" I found a recording that I can barely put down: "Lux aeterna," a crystalline recording of choral works by the American composer Morten Lauridsen"

Lauridsen: Lux aeterna (CD Review - The St Louis Post, 2005)

"Layton is a peerless Handelian, master of the architecture, yet constantly alert to enlivening nuances that only seem obvious with hindsight."

Handel: Chandos Anthems Nos 5a, 6a & 8 (CD Review - BBC...

"Nothing about their performance is habitual: the renewal of the choir or a change of soloists ignites each performance anew."

Bach: St John Passion (Concert Review - The Observer, 2012)

"Presiding over everything and moulding all these excellent performances into a cohesive whole is Stephen Layton."

Bach: Christmas Oratorio (CD Review - Music Web...

"intensely focused, thrillingly articulate and searchingly musically literate"

Britten: A Ceremony of Carols & St Nicolas (Concert...

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Poulenc: Gloria (CD Review - Gramophone Magazine, 2008)

Tormis: Choral Music (CD Review - The Daily Telegraph, 2008)

Poulenc: Gloria (CD Review - International Record Review, 2008)

Poulenc’s Catholic faith is much written about. The familiar contradictions in his character, the saint versus the sinner, somehow served to ignite a flame in his music – it’s as if the musical realization of ecstasy tinged with terror acted as a catalyst to inspire some of Poulenc’s most exquisite music.In performance, it demands utter conviction – and anyone who has ever tried will also know...

Poulenc: Gloria (CD Review - The Observer, 2008)

Tormis: Choral Music (CD Review - BBC Music Magazine, 2008)

Poulenc: Gloria (CD Review - The Independent, 2008)