"It's a devastatingly powerful evocation of Mary's agony, balancing impassioned choral writing with equally intense, occasionally violent, work for the strings of the Britten Sinfonia ... Wonderfully sung; profoundly moving".
"Recording of the month: Even though I am sure there is much more in this Stabat Mater than I have yet discerned I am already confident that it is a masterpiece. It should be heard by anyone who values eloquent contemporary music".
"His vivid, trenchant string writing is realised with striking clarity by the Britten Sinfonia in this recording, made just a fortnight after the same performers gave the world premiere last October in London. The Sixteen's singing is predictably high in quality. Cries, shouts, whispers, glissandos, episodes of ululating melisma, all feature ... in [MacMillan's] quest to render musically the visceral emotional content of the Stabat Mater".
Diapason
2017 septembre
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Benoît Fauchet
2017 septembre
"Vurdering: Diapason d'or".
The gramophone
2017 May
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Marc Rochester
2017 May
"Recording of the month - Editor's choice: Without doubt the work's impact is immeasurably heightened by the exceptional performance it receives here ... Christopher's adoration of MacMillan's Stabat Mater radiates out of every moment of this compelling performance ... The Britten Sinfonia have tremendously incisive rhythmic bite ... All the soloists are outstanding ... Posterity might well judge this to be a 21st-century masterpiece; there is no question that this is a truly masterly recorded performance".