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'This stunning work, brilliantly performed by Stephen Layton's chamber choir Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia, is something no serious lover of choral music should be without'
'If you've heard them and followed the laudatory press they've gotten worldwide, you already know that this [Polyphony] is one of the world's truly great chamber choirs. Layton always gets breathtaking beauty of tone from them, as well as exquisite interpretive and dynamic nuances. They bring Macmillan's compelling sound-world to life more vibrantly than any other choir I've heard his music from...
Stephen Layton is on a roll. After his triumphant recordings of Pawel Lukaszewski's choral works he returns to Handel and three of the Chandos Anthems, "O Praise the Lord with One Consent", "Let God Arise" and "My Song Shall be Alway". His inspirational direction and choice of top soloists make this a welcome addition to earler recordings. The choir sings with their usual purity of tone and clear...
You've never heard anything quite like Sir John Tavener's "The Veil of the Temple." The work originated as an all-night, seven-hour Easter "vigil," in which form it received its U.S. premiere in July at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York. The British composer has condensed it to two hours for this first recording, taped live in London's famous Temple Church, which commissioned it and where...
One of today's most performed choral composers, Northwest native Morten Lauridsen has won legions of international fans for the otherworldly beauty of his music. This new Hyperion CD has paired that music with superb interpreters: conductor Stephen Layton and his chorus Polyphony, plus the Britten Sinfonia (Pauline Lowbury, leader). The 1997 "Lux Aeterna," a luminous five-movement choral/...