Stephen Layton MBE

Reviews

Press notices and interviews, by year.

2011

  1. American Record GuideVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsOver an hour's worth of American music recorded by a British choir and none of it was composed by Eric…CD Review
  2. ClassicalSource.comHandel: MessiahOxygen was at a premium on a wet, unseasonably warm December evening, but Polyphony and the Academy of…Concert Review
  3. The Daily TelegraphChristmas Festival 2011I don't regard myself as more than averagely sentimental and there isn't too much music that reduces me to…Concert Review
  4. ClassicalSource.comChristmas Festival 2011An aspiration of many years’ standing has been to listen to J. S. Bach’s cantatas following the liturgical…Concert Review
  5. The Daily TelegraphVarious: Christmas FestivalI don't regard myself as more than averagely sentimental and there isn't too much music that reduces me to…Concert Review
  6. The TimesBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St NicolasStephen Layton transformed this from an average, middle-class seasonal celebration into a magnificent musical…Concert Review
  7. San Francisco Classical VoiceVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsThe U.S. and Canada may be secular nations, but you’d never know it from Beyond All Mortal Dreams: American A…CD Review
  8. German ReviewPraulins: The Nightingale*German Text follows below the English*CD Review
  9. SA-CD.netPraulins: The NightingaleDanish recorder virtuoso Michala Petri had collaborated with a choir several times during her career, but she…CD Review
  10. Music Web InternationalPraulins: The NightingaleThese are all world premiere recordings and feature the combination of Michala Petri’s flute, the Danish…CD Review
  11. Sächsische ZeitungPraulins: The NightingaleGrenzlos nah am Geschehen Für die dänische Flötistin Michala Petri scheint nichts unm¨glich. Jetz singt sie…CD Review
  12. Gramophone MagazinePraulins: The NightingaleLayton in Denmark for another Baltic VoyageCD Review
  13. Fanfare USAPraulins: The NightingaleWould that all “concept albums,” particularly those of new music, come out as well as this. Recorder player…CD Review
  14. ClassicalSource.comSchnittke: Choir Concerto; MinnesangI well remember the first time I heard a piece of Schnittke’s, as a student at the Huddersfield Festival, the…CD Review
  15. Interlude.hkVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsSome of the best choral discs, in my mind, have come from British choirs exploring repertoire outside of the…CD Review
  16. wqxr.orgVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsIs there a contemporary American choral music sound? A growing number of American composers have banded…CD Review
  17. Gramophone MagazineVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsIf this is a representative cross-section of unaccompanied American choral music since the Second World War…CD Review
  18. Music Web InternationalVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsAll but two of the composers represented here are still alive, so the word “contemporary” might easily have…CD Review
  19. savd.com.auVarious: Ikon, Vol. 2In 1997, the Holst Singers and Stephen Layton produced a disc that immediately became a cult classic and a…CD Review
  20. The GuardianCelebration of Nicholas MawIt is often said of Nicholas Maw, who died in 2009, that he was born at the wrong time. The lyrical…Concert Review
  21. The TimesCelebration of Nicholas MawA rhapsodic critic once said: “For generations people will be buying tickets to hear his music”. It’s a…Concert Review
  22. Icareifyoulisten.comCelebration of Nicholas MawThe British composer Nicholas Maw (1935-2009) received mixed reception during his life; dubbed a…Concert Review
  23. The TelegraphBBC Proms 2011Many years ago, in what might be seen as an extreme form of “authenticity”, I sang in a performance of…Concert Review
  24. The GuardianBBC Proms 2011Founded by the late Richard Hickox, the City of London Sinfonia reaches its 40th anniversary this year. One…Concert Review
  25. The ObserverBBC Proms 2011Another new cantata with two singers, a tenor (Ian Bostridge) and a baritone (Roderick Williams), ventured…Concert Review
  26. The Financial TimesBBC Proms 2011The Prom the night before brought another major premiere (though not a BBC commission). This was Colin…Concert Review
  27. The New StatesmanBBC Proms 2011Musical memorials take many forms, as Sunday night's Prom elegantly demonstrated. A concert dedicated to…Concert Review
  28. The Evening StandardBBC Proms 2011It was Richard Hickox who, with a characteristically ebullient phone call in 2008, just three days before his…Concert Review
  29. Limelight: The Classical Music & Arts Website; ABC Classic FMVarious: Ikon, Vol. 2This release focuses on Russian composers from the early 20th-century, including some émigré composers, who…CD Review
  30. Audiophile AuditionVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsThis album is a dual celebration of sorts; American choral music coming into its own as a distinct and…CD Review
  31. classicstoday.comVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsStephen Layton and the Trinity College Choir unearth choral works of rare beauty. First, a health warning: it…CD Review
  32. Classic FM MagazineVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsStephen Layton and the Trinity College Choir unearth choral works of rare beauty. First, a health warning: it…CD Review
  33. mattnielsen.comVarious: Beyond All Mortal DreamsWhen I first heard that Trinity College was putting out a recording of all American music I started…CD Review
  34. International Record ReviewEsenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral WorksWithin seconds I knew I was going to adore this CD and the music of Eriks Ešenvalds … This is a performance…CD Review
  35. klassiekezaken.nlEsenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral WorksDe Letse componist Eriks Ešenvalds speelt een wonderlijk spel met de beleving van gezongen tekst. Er is volop…CD Review
  36. Entartete MusikEsenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral WorksPolyphony and Hyperion Records have done more to broaden our choral taste than any other choir or record…CD Review
  37. Audiophile AuditionEsenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral WorksEriks Esenvalds (b. 1977) is a Latvian composer who, according to the notes, comes from a new Latvia free of…CD Review
  38. dailyclassicalmusic.comEsenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral Works'When composing a work, I give myself to the temptation of the creative work -- a journey, whose twisting…CD Review
  39. American Record GuideEsenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral WorksHyperion has done it again, with this stunning album of mostly sacred choral works by the younger-generation…CD Review
  40. Limelight, ABC Classic FMEsenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral WorksA "singing revolution" of vocal magic from Polyphony, Stephen Layton and Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds…CD Review
  41. BBC Music MagazineEsenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral WorksEšenvalds responds to the purpose of the words he sets, occupying similar choral territory to the likes of…CD Review
  42. The Arts DeskPraulins: The NightingaleYou don’t find many discs of music for recorder and a capella voices. Veteran Danish virtuoso Michala Petri…CD Review
  43. opusklassiek.nlEsenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral WorksDe revolutie van 1991 in Letland is de geschiedenis ingegaan als de ‘zingende revolutie’. Duizenden Letten…CD Review
  44. blog.codaex.deEšenvalds: Passion and Resurrection & Other Choral WorksIn den drei Republiken des Baltikum gab es immer schon eine ausgeprägt hochklassige und vielfältige…CD Review