The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, is one of Britain’s great mixed choirs. Under its new director, the mercurial
Stephen Layton, it has reached new heights of musical excellence in this latest disc for Hyperion. Accompanied
throughout by the Academy of Ancient Music, the choir performs one of Handel’s most florid and dazzling works, the
Dettingen Te Deum, which was written to celebrate King George II’s triumphal return from the Battle of Dettingen in
1743. As might be imagined, much of this work is thrillingly bellicose, but some highly cultivated writing shows the
composer’s range, expressive versatility and imagination.
The disc also includes a stylish performance of the Organ Concerto No 14 in A major with Trinity’s former musical
director Richard Marlow at the organ, as well as Handel’s best-loved and most gloriously ceremonial anthem, Zadok the
Priest.
“In this excellent account of Zadock the Priest by Layton, the most striking numbers are the internalised prayers for redemption and mercy, rather than the royal brown-nosing and tub-thumping. The youthful (undergraduate) voices of Trinity’s choir sing superbly throughout, and quite magnificently in Zadok, which rounds off the disc climactically after a stylish performance of the A major Organ Concerto by Richard Marlow.” Sunday Times, 22nd June 2008 ****
“Composed to celebrate George II's victory against the French in 1743 - the last time a British monarch led his troops into battle - the "Dettingen" Te Deum is often dismissed as Handelian tub-thumping. Yet, in a performance as precise and exuberant as this (wonderfully expressive diction from the Trinity Choir), its trumpet-and-drum-fuelled extroversion comes across as elementally exciting rather than merely brash.
Handel is careful, though, to leaven bellicose ceremonial with moments of quiet entreaty, as in the poignant bass solo "Vouchsafe, O Lord", sensitively sung here by Neal Davies.
Zadok the Priest is duly overwhelming, without ponderousness, while Richard Marlow's nimble performance of the organ concerto makes a delightful bonus.” The Telegraph, 31st May 2008
“Trinity College Choir go a long way to restoring the [Te Deum] here, giving it the performance it failed to get first time, when, instead of St Paul's, Handel squeezed his musicians into the chapel at St James's Palace. Great singing with sprightly playing from the Academy.” The Observer, 25th May 2008
“Layton fervently rethinks every detail. His tempos are faultless, the Academy of Ancient Music plays as though possessed, and Neal Davies's solos lend an authority complementing the more soft-grained soloists from within the choir. A stylish Zadok and nimble Organ Concerto are welcome bonuses.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 ****
“Complementing the inspiriting performance of the Te Deum… is a properly overwhelming account of Zadok the Priest… and a delightfully deft one… of the A major concerto that Handel quickly recycled as the Concerto grosso Op 6 No 11.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2008
