Stanford: Evening Service (Magnificat & Nunc dimittis) in G major, Op. 81 (Canticles)

“A brilliant new disc from the King’s Consort… It’s thrilling stuff” BBC Radio 3, 29th January 2013

“For the launch CD of its new label Vivat, The King’s Consort have delivered an undisputed spectacular...Suddenly, Stanford’s numerous Evening Canticles are heard to their full effect – radiant, Brahmsian exultations of faith, with unmistakable hints of Wagner witnessed in the thrill of the orchestral language...It’s a magnificent start for a potentially exciting new label.” The Scotsman, 3rd February 2013

“for me this is a simple “must have”. An excellent recording as well.” CD Review, 2nd February 2013

“it's splendid to have these recreations...clothed in their full orchestral colours with magnificent period brass...While the King's Consort Choir is not wholly cathedral-like, it's Elgar's version of Parry's Jerusalem, ending the disc in an unusually broad and eloquent performance from Robert King, that really hits home.” The Observer, 17th February 2013

“Using period instruments and a medium-sized professional choir pays huge dividends, and it’s as if layers of dirty brown varnish have been stripped away from these scores. Parry’s music emerges as the strongest, and I was glad is resplendent here...This is an impressive disc, well annotated and superbly recorded.” The Arts Desk, 23rd February 2013

“[I was glad] is given a performance in the atmosphere of a church rather than a cathedral but is no less dramatic in its vivid trumpet calls. Blest Pair of Sirens, Parry's other well-known motet, comes with biting attack.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013

“vividly sung. The seraphic strains of Stanford in G are a welcome relief after the distinctly earthly thunder of Parry’s I Was Glad” Sunday Times, 3rd March 2013

“a revelation. In the opening Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in A by Stanford, the leanness of gut strings lends edge and urgency to the orchestral writing, which perfectly complements the punchy attack of the three dozen choral singers. There's not a trace here of Victorian self-satisfaction or stuffiness...This CD, full of incandescent, hugely committed music-making, will be an award-winner. You simply have to hear it.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 *****

“How does one bring freshness to 'Praise to the Lord' or 'For lo I raise up'? The answer would seem to be group experience, for Benjamin Nicholas's soloists all come from the ranks of the choir and they are on home ground with Carleton Etherington...colourfully accompanying...[In 'For lo...'] Schola's basses, always virile, excel in their attack...Buy this disc.” International Record Review, July/August 2011

“The mean old saying, 'Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach', would have withered in the presence of Stanford; and no doubt one of the reasons why he was such a great teacher is that he could and did, and so set an example. His C major services (Morning, Evening and Communion, all included in this programme) are so eminently the works of a master who knows how to get from here to there in one move, to keep always something in reserve for later use but never to write without a good clear melodic idea in the first place. Everything in this programme has freshness and well-founded assurance. It's music with clarity of purpose: it knows where it's going and doesn't put a foot wrong.
Under Christopher Robinson, the choir has enjoyed a period in which the distinguishing mark has been a renewed vitality of style. It's well caught in this CD. The start of the first track, the C major Te Deum, has it straightaway – the praise carries spirit and conviction. The final track opens still more strikingly. This is For lo, I will raise up, for which Stanford, writing in 1914, set his imagination free to bestir the choir-stalls into an almost fiercely dramatic life. The St John's choir bite into the words with relish, while the acoustic and their well-judged tempo reinforce the rhythmic energy of the passage.
Even in the best-stocked collection this would prove a welcome addition, and for those who have as yet nothing of the master, it should provide a lively introduction.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The control, range, purity, accurate placing and intelligent musicianship of his singing are totally admirable” Gramophone Magazine