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'Theirs [Polyphony] is the sort of virtuosity that calls no attention to itself but unfolds the music with a spontaneous, ongoing sense of discovery'
'This one is in the We Told You So Department. American composer Eric Whitacre in his mid-30s, is – with the estimable Morten Lauridsen – a part of a growing bounty of choral exploration and development frequently now being recorded by the British-based Layton and his remarkable ensemble, Polyphony. And the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences have heard the word and smartly nominated...
For months I've been driving around entranced, listening to Cloudburst, a stunning CD from British choral group Polyphony. All of the songs on the disc are by 30 something American composer Eric Whitacre, who has a way of contracting and expanding chords with carefully crafted dissonance and resolution. Members of Polyphony, directed by Stephen Layton, sing of sleep, love, dreams, passion, and...
A lifetime of listening to choral music had not prepared me for such lush harmonies—a cappella voices perfectly tuned and blended. This was my first encounter with Polyphony, possibly the best small (25 or so) professional chorus in the world. Polyphony is from Britain, where choral singing is a national fetish. Since their formation in 1986 by conductor Stephen Layton, they have amassed an...