Timothy Brown

“[The Allegri] is one of the highlights, the 1970 recording by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge achieving an almost weightless sublimity, particularly in the Sanctus. The Taverner Consort of the 1980s offers similarly impressive interpretations of Giovanni Gabrieli's polychoral pieces” The Independent, 25th November 2011

“what impresses about this performance is the exceptional sense of shape, both in overview and in tiny details...This comes with a strong recommendation.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2010 *****

“there is nothing like having youth and intelligence on your side, and [Brown's] musicians, singers and players certainly support the freshness of their voices with the mental energy which so distinguishes the Cambridge School...this performance, lovingly moulded and well balanced...is in the best tradition.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2010

“Throughout this varied and contrasting programme the Clare College choir is on top form. Their discipline, tuning, intonation and balance are all beyond reproach and all the performances are full of sensitivity. All of this bespeaks scrupulous preparation. The choir makes the fresh sound of youthful and very well trained voices” MusicWeb International, February 2013

“Hewitt Jones creates convincing musical mise en scene in such portrait pieces as "Summer Evening" and "Distant Memory" - the latter benefiting enormously from an expressive performance on cello from the composer himself.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2010

“…the singing is strong and enthusiastic, even in the most taxing writing, and the sound is bright and clearly focused…” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 ****

“Clare College Choir is outstanding throughout with a remarkable security of attack and precise intonation in chord sequences that are sometimes repetitive but never obvious. The acoustic in Norwich Cathedral is a real asset and so is this vivid recording.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2009

“Choirs love to sing Rutter's music, audiences love to hear it and, if reviewers are lukewarm, the record/ticket-buying public compensates with effective demonstrations of its enthusiasm.
Rutter believes the seed of the Mass, premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2003, was planted when, as a member of the Highgate School choir, he performed on the original 1963 recording of Britten's War Requiem. This inspiration is nowhere more clear than in the introduction to the Gloria, which recalls Britten's use of brass, woodwind and percussion.
Rutter re-imagines Britten's brilliant juxtaposition of adult and children's voices in a joyful context. Like his model, he mixes Latin liturgy with poetry: here, the texts include poems by Archbishop Ken and William Blake. The Kyrie opens vividly with a sunny, breezy setting of Ken's 'Awake my soul', the Domine Deus begins effectively with a bassoon ostinato against mysterious long notes, but his openings often raise expectations which, for me, are seldom fulfilled.
The Sanctus evokes Fauré at best, Lloyd Webber at worst, and early in the Agnus Dei some phrases, startlingly, recall Penderecki's St Luke Passion.
But fear not, this is mostly unmistakably Rutter.
The shades of Britten and Pears hover over Shadows (1979), a cycle of pleasant settings of 16th- and 17th-century poems, paying tribute to the lute-song tradition. The Wedding Canticle is sweet, airy and graceful. Rutter's many fans will not be disappointed.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The impressive soloist James Gilchrist is spirited and fully immersed in the direct and tuneful simplicity of the music.”(Music Web)

“Naxos continues its conquest of Cambridge's college choirs and finds that from Clare College on excellent form. I suspect this will be one of those Naxos recordings that sells by the ten thousand rather than merely the thousand.” Gramophone Magazine

“There is no doubt that this new recording is exceptionally fine with the Clare College choir on top of their very considerable form…This CD is another feather in the Naxos cap and is urgently recommended.” MusicWeb International

“The newest Naxos recording of the Requiem tends to trump all previous versions, even the composer's own very fine account. Recorded in the expansive acoustic of Douai Abbey, Berkshire, it is very beautifully sung indeed...Elin Manahan Thomas is the ideal soloist, singing the Pie Jesu with touching simplicity and rising up celestially in the Lux aeterna.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition