Composer: Morten Lauridsen
Performer: Polyphony
Orchestra: Britten Sinfonia
Conductor: Stephen Layton
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67580
Release: 2007
Size: 237 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Mid-Winter Songs
01. I. Lament for Pasiphaë
02. II. Like Snow
03. III. She tells her love while half asleep
04. IV. Mid-Winter Waking
05. V. Intercession in Late October
Les chansons des roses
06. I. En une seule fleur
07. II. Contre qui, rose
08. III. De ton rêve trop plein
09. IV. La rose complète
10. V. Dirait-on
11. I will lift up mine eyes
12. O come, let us sing unto the Lord
13. Ave, dulcissima Maria
Nocturnes
14. I. Sa nuit d’été
15. II. Soneto de la noche
16. III. Sure on this shining night
While their recording of Eric Whitacre (CDA67543) continues its chart-topping run on both sides of the Atlantic, Stephen Layton and Polyphony have returned to the studio and put down a second disc devoted to the choral music of Whitacres compatriot Morten Lauridsen. The popular cycles Mid-Winter Songs and Les chansons des roses (the final number of which, Dirait-on, caused something of a publishing sensation on its first appearance) are joined by four premiere recordings: two early Psalm settings, and two new works written during the preparations for this recording. Performances from Layton and his portfolio of musicians are every bit as polished as we have come to expect. Polyphony is joined by the Britten Sinfonia for the Mid-Winter Songs, Andrew Lucas for the organ-accompanied Psalm, and the composer himselfproving Lauridsen to be a master of sympathetic pianism (as well as a digital cymbalist).