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Vocal effects including susurration are used by the 40-year-old Polish composer, but it is the emotionality permeating every syllable of his religious settings that is the most impressive. The singers' performance is immaculate.
“It’s a while since I’ve been able to catch up on some of the new CD releases to hit the shelves. There have been plenty. I’ve got a couple of discs here which I couldn’t wait any longer to play you. Stephen Layton’s the conductor on the first of them, which means there’s a good chance you’re in for a real discovery. Quite how he manages to unearth such un-mined gems I really don’t know, but he...
If you only catch one oratorio this year, it will probably be Handel's "Messiah." It is, after all, a required annual experience for many. Despite being written for Easter, it's become to classical music what "The Nutcracker" is to dance and "A Christmas Carol" is to theater.
Thanks to its blossoming international reputation, the Minnesota Orchestra has been attracting increasingly impressive...
Stephen Layton interviewed by Richard Morrison (The Times, 16 November 2007)
Master and Commander
Every child should have the chance to sing, the choral supremo Stephen Layton insists
One of Handel’s most spectacular, and spectacularly challenging, choral works will be heard in London tomorrow. It is Israel in Egypt, a gloriously flamboyant depiction – virtuosically written for eight-part double-...
