Poulenc: Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël (Four Christmas Motets)

“An ambitious and superbly sung programme, sympathetically framed within the choir's spaciously atmospheric home acoustic.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 *****

“The Christmas Eve carol service at Westminster Abbey is one of the most warming events in the festive calendar, and this CD captures the atmosphere beautifully … The singing is a constant delight” The Telegraph

“What gloriously warm and uplifting music this is...Ericson draws superb singing, whether in the Romanesque devotional motets...or the robust earthniess of the early Chanson a boire.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2013

“it would be hard to better these performances. Clearly Ericson had prepared the choir impeccably with consistent purity of tone and an impressive transparency of texture displaying this music at its finest. In the sacred works there’s a satisfying degree of reverential expression and it is of such an elevated quality it feels almost mystical at times.” MusicWeb International, 19th April 2013

“A timely reminder of Poulenc's wonderful choral output, both sacred and secular. The performances are immaculate, if arguably a touch clinical.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 ****

“From the very outset of the Gloria its clear that this is a performance of real distinction. …the scintillating choral entry, the basses starting the ball rolling with the kind of pent-up energy which you just know is going to explode in the most spectacular way. In the final chorus of the Gloria, after the boisterous start, we have a moment of profound sanctity and another, crowned with incredible delicacy by Susan Gritton, of mouth-watering enchantment.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2008

“Stephen Layton's tight control of his forces, both choral and orchestral, lends impeccable ensemble and heart-thumping excitement - has the opening tutti ever had such punch? Soprano Susan Gritton is superb, too, in her committed, soaring performances. The combined choirs of Trinity College, Cambridge and pro group Polyphony are astounding as a virtuoso choral unit...” BBC Music Magazine, April 2008 *****

“Poulenc’s riotously wild, spiky and humorous Gloria is given a marvellously fresh interpretation here by Polyphony … but perhaps the real interest in this disc lies in the more unfamiliar motets. Each is an exquisite example of Poulenc’s daring choral writing, handled here by Polyphony with the same subtlety and skill they brought to their Bruckner Hyperion disc last year” The Observer

“From the very outset of the Gloria it's clear that this is a performance of real distinction. The gloriously pompous opening orchestral fanfare has a swagger and a self-satisfied strut which is one of those rare moments on disc where you would wish it were tracked separately so that you could just play it over and over again. But to do that would miss the scintillating choral entry, the basses starting the ball rolling with the kind of pent-up energy which you just know is going to explode in the most spectacular way. Other recordings have a pleasant, smiley quality here; Stephen Layton's crew has an almost piratical swagger, buoyantly breasting Poulenc's turbulent waves of barely restrained exuberance.
The 38 voices of Polyphony are augmented by 31 from Trinity College, Cambridge, while an unusually hefty contingent of orchestral players makes up the Britten Sinfonia on the disc. What results is not only music-making of immense power and vibrancy – take the riveting declamation 'Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris', hardly subtle or even particularly refined (the men shout and the brass blares) but unbelievably spine-tingling – but also an ability, brilliantly directed by Layton, to capture Poulenc's 'half hooligan, half monk' musical persona (in Claude Rostand's oft-quoted aphorism). Thus, in the final chorus of the Gloria, after the boisterous start, we have a moment of profound sanctity and another, crowned with incredible delicacy by Susan Gritton, of mouth-watering enchantment.
Not everything is quite so enticing: Gritton wallows a little too much perhaps in the 'Domine Deus', mischievously abetted by Layton's almost kitsch romanticism. But it is the vivid sense of unfettered joy in the Gloria and the matchless intensity of feeling revealed in the motets that make this such a gloriously distinguished disc.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This is another quality disc from Chandos which offers beautiful performances of these attractive French choral works” Canberra Times

“a real bargain....with a remarkable range of Christmas music beautifully sung by the Elora Festival Singers of Toronto. As well as old favourites such as Silent Night, hauntingly done here, there's some fascinating modern stuff, including one of John Rutter's most delightful creations, What Sweeter Music, and an imposing finale from John Tavener.” Mail on Sunday