Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor

“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

“A dramatic and intense reading from the choir which inspired the work's composition.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2006

“‘A stirring Vision of aeroplanes testifies to the choir’s extraordinary virtuosity which, under Baker, is clearly going from strength to strength … Hyperion has been making recordings in Westminster Cathedral almost since the day the company first came into being, and, as ever, the sound on this latest disc is gorgeous, full of depth, and with an ideal balance between, choir, organ and atmosphere” International Record Review

“This fine Canadian choir perform very beautifully in a style which seems natural and right.
The Elora Festival Singers have much in common with King's College, Cambridge under Willcocks; relaxed and habituated, they offer the welcome loveliness of a choral tone where the blend and match of voices produce a sound that's eminently 'at unity with itself'. There's no shortage of good recordings of the Mass in G minor, the one that stands out as being openeyed and adventurous in spirit being the version on Meridian by the Choir of New College, Oxford. They favour a sharper tone, a quicker tempo in the Credo and a brighter acoustic. The choice between women's and boys' voices may prove the deciding factor when it comes to which version; the Elora Singers' female voices seem to give this music precisely what's required.
Yet more decisive may be the coupling. The two recordings by the college choirs couple music by other composers. The Canadians stay with Vaughan Williams, in a mood which assorts well with the Mass. Particularly apt is O vos omnes, also written for Sir Richard Terry and the Choir of Westminster Cathedral. The Skelton setting, Prayer to the Father of Heaven, from 1948 – a comparative rarity and sensitively performed – has a chill which is partly medieval, partly perhaps from the Antarctica of VW's Seventh Symphony. Down Ampney ('Come down, O Love divine') brings the warmth and cheer of a settled major tonality at the close.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The general title "Mystical Songs" directs attention to the settings of five poems by George Herbert, performed here in the rarely heard version accompanied by piano and string quartet. …the Mass in G minor, is beautifully performed and recorded with unusual clarity. The organ and piano accompaniments are sensitively played, the brass ensemble adds a magnificent range of colours and the TinAlley String Quartet belies its name.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2009

“…the SWR Vokalenensemble Stuttgart…are…a tremendously adroit and versatile group whose immaculate polish, scrupulous blend and stylish musicality cannot fail to impress. Certainly it's hard to imagine more luminously textured or jaw-droppingly eloquent renderings of the two pieces by James MacMillan.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2009

“The finely blended voices of Mike Brewer’s Laudibus, an offshoot of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, provide much pleasure in this inventive selection of a cappella Vaughan Williams. Little-heard late motets mix with early strivings and that radiant response to Tudor polyphony, the Mass in G minor. But as the disc advances, a doubt arises. Mass or folk song, everything is sung with the same rapt reverence. Let’s also have a little iron in the fire.” The Times, 1st August 2008 ***

“Vaughan Williams… musical personality shines out all through this selection of sacred and secular a cappella music… Mike Brewer's excellent chamber choir Laudibus sings with beautifully blended tone, and good stand-out solo work… the disc offers must to discover and must to enjoy, and its altogether a treasurable contribution to the Vaughan Williams anniversary celebrations.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2008 ****

“Magnificently sung … superlative recording” The Telegraph

“Fascinating and splendidly executed …enlightens and reveals as much as it Impresses and delights” Classic FM Magazine

“Laudibus seems to be not one chamber choir but several on this CD” International Record Review

‘A moving and impressive addition to the a cappella repertoire’ (The Daily Telegraph)