'“Double, double toil and trouble”, incant the witches from Macbeth. It’s a line that feeds more than literally into this enchanting new album by director Ellie Slorach and her versatile vocal group Kantos. The Witch Trials is a genuinely complete experience, an uninterrupted sequence of plainsong and motets connected by the spoken word, which confronts the concept of witchcraft in both mythical and real human terms. Kantos present a panoply of musical evocation ranging from the traditionally sacred and devotional (Renaissance classics from Allegri’s sublime Miserere to the spiritual perfection of Byrd, Palestrina, Strozzi and the gloriously eccentric Gesualdo) to edgier modern settings such as Anna Disley-Simpson’s cackling theatrical version of the Macbeth witches text, Rory Wainwright Johnston’s uncommonly ritualistic Ave Maria, and Camden Reeves’ feverishly irreverent Spells, Remedies & Potions. The narrative thread - whether sung or spoken - journeys with fluid intent to the final Amen.'

★★★★