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Those who know Schnittke as a master of the grotesque, the trashy or the avant garde would be as surprised to hear this CD as his supporters in the Soviet era were when this magnificent concerto for choir first appeared in 1981. But Russian artists, even the non-devout, have always drawn inspiration from the Orthodox tradition, and few who know Tchaikovsky’s Liturgy of St John Chrysostom or...
If the idea of an unaccompanied choral work, sung in Russian, lasting more than 40 minutes sounds like hard work, don’t be too quick to dismiss it. Schnittke’s Choir Concerto (1984-85) has the unmistakable whiff of greatness about it and is unquestionably one of his most compelling achievements. It finds him in ecstatic mode, setting eloquent prayers by a 10th-century Armenian poet. The result is...
Polyphony met the Age of Enlightenment; they said “Handel’s oratorio ?”, the others said “Stephen Layton conducting “, the consequence was Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, James Gilchrist and David Wilson-Johnson; and the world said “wow!”
Those of you who have ever sung in a choir, particularly around Christmas time, will be familiar with John Rutter's huge role in shaping the musical content of carol services up and down the country. He has arranged just about every carol known to man and his original Christmas compositions, as heard here on this extraordinary disc, epitomise both the joy and intense emotion that the Nine...
In an introduction to this disc of Christmas music, John Rutter tellingly commends the Christmas carol as one of the few forms that permits "serious" composers to write tunes, regardless of whatever political correctness rules the avant-garde of the day. And he's been exploiting that licence with a vengeance ever since, as a Cambridge student, he composed the jaunty little number that remains his...
"The performances are uniformly excellent; Stephen Layton and his Polyphony vocal ensemble have shown a previous affinity for Rutter's work and this effort simply reaffirms their commitment to and love for this very special music. The recording captures choir and the various orchestral forces at their best in the favourable acoustics of London's All Saints Church, Tooting…as one commentator said...