Following BBC Radio 3's selection of our most recent release 'Exultent Superi' as their 'CD of the Week' in November 2011, New College soloists have received another outstanding review for this collection of François Couperin motets – some of which are recorded for the first time. An extract from the five star review, which appears in the March edition of BBC Music Magazine is included below:

'The performance is astonishing. Two New College trebles, aged 11 and 13, sing with a musical maturity and technical focus which I have never heard bettered. Intonation is spot on, with none of that instability (for some winsome, for others unnerving) which often characterises unbroken boys' voices. In the duet 'Lauda Sion Salvatorem' their individually distinctive voices are beautifully matched. No less exceptional is the haute-contre (light high tenor) of Guy Cutting[...] With excellent strings and sympathetic recording this is a real revelation.'   
 ***** Performance; **** Recording 
George Pratt, BBC Music Magazine

The album can be viewed here. 

Update 24/02/12: Exultent Superi wins more critical acclaim from MusicWeb International, who have named the release their 'Recording of the Month'. They say:

'The crystal clear and superbly balanced sound quality is as pleasing as I have heard in a church acoustic. It would be hard to imagine a more gratifying recording of these scores. In all respects this Novum release is quite stunning!'
Read the review here.

_ This week the BBC features our new Francois Couperin recording as 'CD of the week'.  This is welcome recognition of the delight the recording will give to many who had never thought of themselves as afficionados of French baroque music.  Couperin's style is extremely accessible, and genial.  It will make excellent Christmas listening when you have tired of carols.  The CD also contains works never before recorded, and which are now performable through the reconstructions made by Edward Higginbottom, an expert in the field of French baroque music.  There are additional pluses to this release: the focus in the digipack on illustrations of College art treasures, and the musical focus on the young soloists of the choir, who sing this music with no less precision and style than seasoned professionals. 

In this week's New CD Show on Classic FM, presenter David Mellor has chosen our latest release on the Novum label - Mozart's Requiem - as his 'Connoisseur's Choice'. He notes that the album appears on our new own-label, as well as featuring all male soloists taken from the Choir, including treble soloist Jonty Ward, who appeared in this year's Proms.  

You can listen to the album's appearance on Classic FM's listen again player from about 42 minutes in. The Requiem disc is available in our online shop.

Tune in to BBC Radio 3 on Sunday 28 August at 7pm for a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah, with Paul McCreesh directing massed choirs and the Gabrieli Consort and Players. In the cameo part of the Angel is Jonty Ward, who has just completed his last year as head chorister in the New College choir. If you miss the live performance, you can read more about the Gabrieli Elijah recording in which Ward also takes part: http://www.gabrieli.com/support-us

Ward also sings the soprano solos in New College Choir's recently released recording of Mozart's Requiem as well as a number of upcoming discs on the Novum label.

Update 30/08/11: A couple of very positive reviews from the Guardian and The Arts Desk describe New College treble Jonty Ward's 'effortless' solos as 'perfectly voiced' winning 'the most admirers'. You can read the reviews in their entirety here:
http://bit.ly/owQu5B (Guardian)
http://bit.ly/ndPN0F (The Arts Desk)

In this month's Gramophone Podcast, Martin Cullingford talks to director Edward Higginbottom about our new label Novum! It includes a short extract from our new disc, Mozart's Requiem, and you can skip straight to the interview with Professor Higginbottom by going to 15:45 in the player window.

You can listen to it here: http://gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/download-the-latest-gramophone-podcast-1

Read Andrew Mellor's Gramophone article article on the chapels and churches which stream their services.