‘No-one, but no-one performs Messiah better every year than the choir Polyphony under the conductor Stephen Layton’ (Evening Standard) Polyphony and Stephen Layton’s live Messiah at St John’s Smith Square has become one of the highlights of the musical season. The joyful sincerity and urgent brilliance of the performers has brought the familiar story to life again and again. Now this wonderful experience is available on disc, recorded in 2008 for a new release that will surely prove a strong competitor in a necessarily crowded market. Polyphony is joined by the Britten Sinfonia and a quartet of magnificent young soloists – all variously acclaimed as the premier Handel singers of the new generation.

CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE EDITOR'S CHOICE; CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE 50 BEST RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR

'If you only listen to one Messiah this Christmas, Stephen Layton and Polyphony's live recording should be it … Layton's interpretation has matured into something of infinite variety, clear insight and spiritual substance' (Classic FM Magazine)

'The music-making here has … the lightness, texutures and vocabulary of period style, but there is also the spritual grandeur … of the great Northern choral society tradition …The soloists are ideal. Julia Doyle is a charismatic Angel/narrator in the pastoral scene, and her embellished recapitulation of 'I know that my Redeemer liveth' is spine-tingling. Andrew Foster Williams' singing is marvellous … The well-rounded tone and technical precision of Iestyn Davies's singing is easy to enjoy, but it is equally significant that his ornamentation in 'But who may abide' is masterful for its stylish vocabulary and expressive wisdom' (Gramophone)

'The new release has both a fine sense of style and is full of refreshing insights … The choir … sings with an effortless control and well-modulated fluency that takes wing … The acapella introduction of the final Amen is a masterstroke … Polyphony's new Messiah gives the daughters of Zion cause to 'Rejoice Greatly' (BBC Music Magazine)

---

2 CDs for the price of 1 / Recording details: December 2008; St John's, Smith Square, London, United Kingdom; Produced by Adrian Peacock; Engineered by David Hinitt; Release date: November 2009;