Reviews
Review Search
'The sound is very clean, very focused and detailed, and has remarkable sound-stage depth. Even more so as an SACD … The bottom line is, if you aren't familiar with Lux aeterna, your life is the poorer for it. You do need a recording of it'
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/...
There is some outstanding choral singing here, particularly in the six Madrigali. These are vocally challenging works demanding the kind of technical and musical supremacy in which Polyphony, now approaching their 20th year, are absolute masters. Under Stephen Layton’s sensitive and intelligent direction, they produce performances which are both fresh and immaculately detailed. […] It is clear...
In April 2002 I wrote the following about a Rubeda Canis Musica Release RCM 19705: "This disc is my choral disc of the year! I cannot see how it could be bettered, both musically, performance and recording-wise. Although it is not available as yet in the UK, I urge you to get it from the U.S. (Amazon.com can supply it by return). You will not regret the investment."
Unfortunately, that original...
This new disc from the multi-award-winning choir Polyphony is something rather special. At once genuinely original and yet reassuringly accessible, the music of Morten Lauridsen has achieved something of a cult status in his native America . Stephen Layton draws from his musicians some of the most ardently lyrical performances of recent years. Lux aeterna was greeted by The Times after its London...
It would be difficult today to be a choral singer and not be familiar with at least one or two works by American composer Morten Lauridsen, whose sumptuously mellifluous creations (I'm thinking especially of O magnum mysterium and Lux aeterna) are beloved by choirs for their eminently singable lines and vibrant harmonic structures that tend to envelop the whole ensemble in soul-satisfying...