Polyphony: Denmark (Concert Review - Jyllandsposten, 2000)

Throughout this year and through 10 concerts and lectures and a most readworthy book, the unique project Er Viborg Stift  will draw a picture of how we became the people, the society and the church we are today. The concert part presents several "highs".  The two with Polyphony were alpine peaks. The programme was formed as a musical church service. Stephen Layton had selected the works from the various segments of the Mass, thus presenting a broad view of the 16th. century. There was relatively much English music, but Byrd, Taverner, Gibbons and Tallis were, of course, glorious composers with full-bodied choral compositions frequently in excellent contrast to the continental masters, primarily Palestrina.

One cannot imagine better reproductions than those that filled the arches of the Holstebro Church so ideally. The 16 extremely unerring singers produced a fantastically homogeneous sound, leaving space for the fine nuances and details. Stephen Layton's plastic conducting was filled with inner life stretching from poetry to drama. A motet by Jørgen Jersild fitted in well as an encore at this exceptional concert.

(translated by Gordon Alsing, Manager of the Danish Radio Choir)