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'This recording is a fine example of Polyphony's exquisite range and Stephen Layton's skill in maintaining the balance between voices and ensemble'
'This is great stuff, and it's given its best imaginable realization by Stephen Layton and his crack vocal ensemble Polyphony... The sound, recorded in two different London churches in 2006, has a pleasing resonance that preserves the essential detail among the voices while offering proper balance with the instruments. For choral - and especially Lauridsen - fans, neglecting this disc is not an...
'Lauridsen's Mid-Winter Hymns unfolds as an astutely constructed choral symphony, with bouncy asymmetrical rhythms and lusty choral writing leading to a meditative fadeout. Les chanson des roses is a polyphonic delight that strategically delays the entry of the piano until the very end. Lively, confident performances'
'There could be few choirs better equipped than Polyphony to bring his music to life, with their pure sound and lively musicianship … the recent Ave Dulcissima Maria is for a capella male chorus and searingly beautiful. The final Nocturnes is a triptych of settings of Rilke, Pablo Neruda and James Agee … all three brimful of the exquisite beauty that is Lauridsen's special possession'
'This is celestial and spine-tingling stuff. Contemporary choral music really doesn't come any better than this'
It is two years since Hyperion introduced the music of Morten Lauridsen to a wider audience and earned a Grammy nomination for its trouble. That first volume of the West Coast American composer's religious work is complemented here by an anthology chiefly of his secular choral writing, though even here there is still a whiff of spirituality.
Mid-Winter Songs from 1983 sets five poems by Robert...