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Performance *****Sounds *****
Polyphony’s brand of singing, clean as a whistle, rhythmically wonderfully alive, impeccably tuned and voiced, polished yet always fervent, is justly renowned and on this disc, under the direction of Stephen Layton, it serves Britten's a cappella choral music extremely well. The variety here is vast, ranging from the still magical A Hymn to the Virgin, which Britten...
Almost the only criticism I have of this superb programme is that in Sacred and Profane, Britten's late group of settings of early English poems, Polyphony employ the sort of studied `authentic' pronunciation that one associates with the most scholarly of early music specialists. And yet at various points in his career Britten turned to the very different sounds and syntaxes of foreign languages...
This disc containing the major part of Britten's mixed-voice a cappella repertoire (the Hymn to St Cecilia is the only substantial omission) could hardly be a better showcase for the virtuosity of Polyphony and the increasingly assured talents of Stephen Layton. There's every sign that this music is particularly well "sung in": the phrasing - whether rapid, rat-a-tat or relaxed - carries such a...
AMDG presents as formidable a challenge to its singers as any of Britten's compositions for unaccompanied choir. In fact that is sometimes suggested as the reason why, having written it for an expert group in 1939 and realising that its chances of frequent performance were slim, Britten never prepared the work for publication. It's a pity he couldn't have heard Stephen Layton's Polyphony! Even...
Après un formidable récital Cornelius (chez le même éditeur), Stephen Layton revient en Angleterre pour fêter Britten. Encore chosit-il un Britten moins connu qu’à l’ordinaire dans ce programme essentiellement consacré à la musique chorale profane. On peut s’interroger sur cette relative désaffection. Difficulté des oeuvres ? Certainement. Mais il n’empêche : les quatre recueils et les deux...
After hearing their latest CD of choral works by Britten, nothing will dissuade me from the conclusion that Polyphony under Stephen Layton is the best chamber choir in the country. Listen to the pinpoint articulation in I mon waxe wood from the collection Sacred and Profane Op91. The high sopranos are lithe, strong and young. They rattle out the semiquavers even at altitude with precision and...