Stephen Layton MBE

Reviews

Press notices and interviews, by year.

2012

  1. Time Out Hong KongCity Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong: Mozart RequiemYou’ve got to hand it to Die Konzertisten: getting the founder of renowned choral group Polyphony to head up…Concert Review
  2. The Arts DeskChristmas Festival 2012Messiahs of all kinds multiply at this time of year: the meek and the threadbare as well as the proud and…Concert Review
  3. The New Zealand HeraldBach: B minor MassJudging by the near-capacity audience for Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's performance on Thursday of Bach's…Concert Review
  4. bachtrack.comBach: B minor MassThe Mass in B minor was completed in 1749, the year before Bach’s death. Much of the work consists of music…Concert Review
  5. Gramophone MagazineHowells: Requiem & other works, Gramophone AwardEven by the exalted standards of previous offerings from Stephen Layton and his gifted Trinity College…CD Review
  6. The Mail on SundayBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St NicolasBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & Saint Nicolas - The Mail on Sunday My Christmas Album of the Year is yet…CD Review
  7. The Arts DeskBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St Nicolas2013 will be Britten’s centenary, so brace yourself for an onslaught of new and reissued recordings over the…CD Review
  8. Music Web InternationalBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St NicolasA Ceremony of Carols is most frequently heard sung by boy trebles, there is also an SATB arrangement by…CD Review
  9. The Sunday TimesBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St NicolasWith this ideal coupling, Stephen Layton and his choral forces are getting in early with Christmas and…CD Review
  10. The Financial TimesBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St NicolasBritten's joyous cycle of nine carols is so closely associated with boys' voices that it comes as a surprise…CD Review
  11. The Daily TelegraphBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St NicolasAlthough we tend to associate Britten's A Ceremony of Carols with the timbre of boy trebles, it was…CD Review
  12. Avvenire.itBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St NicolasBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & Saint Nicolas - avvenire.it Compie settant'anni e non li dimostra A Ceremony…CD Review
  13. WQXR.orgBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St NicolasMusic Album of the Week Unlike many of his contemporaries and forbears in the classical music world, Benjamin…CD Review
  14. Classical SourceBach: St John PassionIt is a perilously short fall from the grace of tradition to the blight of routine, and it would be…Concert Review
  15. The GuardianBach: St John PassionPolyphony's Good Friday performance of Bach's St John Passion has become an annual fixture, but there was no…Concert Review
  16. The ObserverBach: St John PassionStephen Layton has forged his own, near folkloric tradition by conducting his elite choir, Polyphony, in…Concert Review
  17. Classical Music SentinelHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksI may not always like the music, but never has a recording of choral music conducted by Stephen Layton failed…CD Review
  18. Choir and Organ MagazineHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksThis is a fine programme for Howells fans, eschewing the 'Coll. Reg.' canticles and the organ works, and…CD Review
  19. Gramophone MagazineHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksWill only male choirs do for Howells's sacred music? So previous commentators have insisted, though only the…CD Review
  20. BBC Music MagazineHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksIn a work intended to console, it's important that the actual sound the choir makes is warmly consoling. It…CD Review
  21. The Buffalo NewsHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksThe Choir of Trinity College, a group going back to the 14th century, brings a luminous, beautifully balanced…CD Review
  22. The Mail on SundayHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksMy Best Choral CD is from Hyperion and showcases music by the still underrated Herbert howells. Stephen…CD Review
  23. The GuardianHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksThe death from polio in 1935 of Herbert Howells' nine-year-old son Michael left a permanent mark on his…CD Review
  24. blog.codaex.deHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksDer englische Komponist Herbert Howells (1892-1983) war eine überaus interessante Persönlichkeit in der…CD Review
  25. BBC MusicHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksHerbert Howells' Requiem must be one of the most beautiful and searingly moving works in the entire English…CD Review
  26. BBC Music MagazinePoulenc: Half Monk - Half RascalNo one is pretending Poulenc's melodies and instrumental music are without their performing problems. But…CD Review
  27. Music Web InternationalPoulenc: Half Monk - Half RascalIt was the critic Claude Rostand, in 1950, who first adopted the phrase “moine ou voyou” to describe Francis…CD Review
  28. Classical MusicPoulenc: Half Monk - Half Rascal"Half monk, half rascal, they called him" , Poulenc's deep religous conviction shining through just as…CD Review
  29. Fanfare USAPoulenc: Half Monk - Half RascalThe title of this album, Half Monk, Half Rascal -originally coined as “half monk, half thug” by critic Claude…CD Review
  30. Choir and Organ MagazinePoulenc: Half Monk - Half RascalThe old rouge would have kissed them all, the men twice over. Poulenc may have created am impression of…CD Review
  31. The AgeBach: St John PassionA TIMELY Lenten celebration, this performance of the shorter of Bach's two great Passion settings impressed…Concert Review
  32. The Sydney Morning HeraldBach: St John PassionA TIMELY Lenten celebration, this performance of the shorter of Bach's two great Passion settings impressed…Concert Review
  33. Seen and Heard InternationalVarious: Conquering the AntarcticAs part of its 40th anniversary season the City of London Sinfonia is touring this programme, which marks the…Concert Review
  34. South Wales AngusVarious: Conquering the AntarcticOne can never be sure of the right response to Scott's doomed Antarctic expedition, if only because the…Concert Review
  35. The GuardianVarious: Conquering the AntarcticThe City of London Sinfonia's commemoration of the centenary of Robert Scott's ill-fated Antarctic…Concert Review
  36. Birmingham Express & StarVarious: Conquering the AntarcticWhat superb timing, a concert celebrating a heroic struggle against the deep freeze of the Antarctic was…Concert Review
  37. The TimesVarious: Conquering the AntarcticIf you want to put Britain’s current cold snap into perspective, you couldn’t do better than attend this…Concert Review
  38. dailyclassicalmusic.comPoulenc: Half Monk - Half RascalI was completely befuddled by the first words on the booklet cover: 'Half Monk' and 'Half Rascal'. Initially…CD Review
  39. Music Web InternationalHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksI’d scarcely sent off my review of the fine recording of the Howells Requiem by Paul McCreesh than this new…CD Review
  40. Gramophone MagazineBritten: A Ceremony of Carols & St NicolasAs the Britten centenary looms into view, it is good to be able to offer an enthusiastic welcome to this…CD Review
  41. theartsdesk.comPoulenc: Half Monk - Half Rascal“A critic said that there is both a monk and a street urchin in me. That is an accurate description of my…CD Review
  42. The Daily TelegraphHowells: Requiem & Other Choral WorksHerbert Howells (1892-1983) perfectly understood the way that liturgical music could stir the spirits. His…CD Review
  43. Gramophone MagazinePoulenc: Half Monk - Half RascalLayton and the DNVE follow Praulins with PoulencCD Review