5* reviews for Spirit, Strength & Sorrow
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Spirit, Strength & Sorrow, the new album released on The Sixteen’s CORO label funded by the Genesis Foundation, has received a host of outstanding reviews in the national press and online, including three 5* reviews.
Performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, the recording features three new settings of the Stabat Mater text commissioned by the Genesis Foundation by leading contemporary composers Alissa Firsova, Tõnu Kõrvits and Matthew Martin. These new works are accompanied on the album by plainsong chant, and Renaissance and Baroque settings of the Stabat Mater by Claudio Casciolini and Domenico Scarlatti.
Gramophone Editor’s Choice
‘Ever innovative in their programming, Harry Christophers and The Sixteen juxtapose Domenico Scarlatti’s beautiful 10-part Stabat Mater – stile antico polyphony viewed through the prism of the Italian Baroque – and three new settings from the 13-century poem commissioned by the Genesis Foundation. All three are touching and effective: imaginative in their choral sonorities and colouring of the text, skilfully balancing a strong feeling for tradition with a distinctive individual voice.’
Independent on Sunday ★★★★★
‘A commission for The Sixteen by the Genesis Foundation has led to three new settings of stanzas from the poem, recorded with three earlier interpretations. Tõnu Kõrvits draws on the plaintive folk traditions of his native Estonia, Matthew Martin inserts new lines by Robert Willis, and AlissaFirsova hints at her Eastern Orthodox heritage in her graceful dissonances. All are wonderfully sung.’
Financial Times ★★★★
‘The “Stabat Mater”, a 13th-century Catholic hymn, has been a timeless inspiration to composers. Now The Sixteen is renewing that tradition for the 21st century with new settings commissioned, in collaboration with the Genesis Foundation, from three young composers… All three are worth hearing and Domenico Scarlatti’s “Stabat Mater” makes a highly enjoyable Baroque companion for them.’
The Observer ★★★★
‘Three new responses to the text, commissioned by John Studzinski’s Genesis Foundation, are sung here with faultless clarity by the Sixteen… Each is a significant contribution to the repertoire, sitting proudly alongside more familiar settings from Scarlatti and Casciolini, and all meticulously directed by Harry Christophers.’
Planet Hugill ★★★★★
‘This is a lovely disc, the performances from Christophers and The Sixteen are exemplary and by including older settings of the same text we get a fascinating selection of very different attitudes to the same text.’
Sinfini ★★★★★
‘So varied and colourful are the musical responses, from Domenico Scarlatti in 1715 to Alissa Firsova, Tõnu Kõrvits and Matthew Martin in 2014, so deft the programming and so commanding the performances that the disc invites a listen straight through.’
Listen to the NPR piece, including interviews with the composers and audio samples, here.
To purchase the album, visit The Sixteen’s website or download it from iTunes.