Adams / Korngold: Violin Concertos – Ilya Gringolts

   in Choir & Organ (Sep, 2012)
The key piece here is a freshly written Hymn to St Margaret of Scotland, based on a medieval Latin hymn rediscovered a century ago and offering a virtuosic challenge to the St Mary’s choir, which seems to revel in the hocketing first section and immaculately interwoven textures of the whole. There is also a new organ fanfare for the cathedral, quite French in cast, and a wonder- ful Mass, also for St Margaret, that plays more simply to the choir’s strengths. It’s a rich programme, confidently delivered, and the pay-off is a luminous performance of Jackson’s George Herbert setting The Land of Spices, already a modern classic. A typically rich …