Nocturnes

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 Whitacre's 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 himself-proving Lauridsen to be a master of sympathetic pianism (as well as a digital cymbalist). This new disc is certainly a worthy successor to the Grammy-nominated Lux aeterna.