English Motets - Gesualdo Six

‘The vocal quality is very fine, not to say superb, and when the music calls for an extrovert approach (as do Byrd’s Vigilate or, very differently, Dunstable’s four-voice Veni Sancte Spiritus) the singers respond with an athleticism and a feel for pacing that isn’t perhaps so common. The close miking does justice to the contrapuntal details, maintaining clarity in all but the densest writing’ (Gramophone)

‘It’s all exquisitely done, collegiate smoothness and blend to the fore. And what blend! The harmonic voicing is immaculate yet always sensitive to the imperatives of the polyphonic flow—witness the plight of Jerusalem, conveyed with such honeyed heart-breaking simplicity, in Byrd’s Ne irascaris, Domine. Haunting too is the hushed restraint of Robert White’s Compline hymn. Weavers of rich and plangent tapestries, The Gesualdo Six meld style and substance with beguiling sure-footedness. An auspicious debut’ (BBC Music Magazine)

1
Suscipe quaeso Domine[10'13]Thomas Tallis (c1505-1585)
2
Vigilate[4'08]William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
3
Loquebantur variis linguis[4'16]Thomas Tallis (c1505-1585)
4
When David heard[5'12]Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656)
5
If ye love me[2'44]Thomas Tallis (c1505-1585)
6
Libera nos, salva nos I[3'59]John Sheppard (c1515-1558)
7
Miserere mei, Deus[3'26]William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
8
Christe, qui lux es et dies I[4'40]Robert White (c1538-November 1574)
9
Veni Sancte Spiritus / Veni creator Spiritus[5'29]John Dunstaple (c1390-1453)
10
Haec dies[1'59]Thomas Morley (1557/8-1602)
11
Quemadmodum[5'53]John Taverner (c1490-1545)
12
Ave Maria, mater Dei[2'42]William Cornysh (dc1502)
13
O Lord, in thy wrath rebuke me not[3'47]Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
14
Deliver me from mine enemies[2'27]Robert Parsons (c1535-1572)
Ne irascaris, Domine[9'37]William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
15
Ne irascaris, Domine[4'23]
16
Civitas sancti tui[5'14]
17
Libera nos, salva nos II[2'25]John Sheppard (c1515-1558)

The versatile Owain Park adds another two roles—those of singer and director—to his burgeoning Hyperion discography, while The Gesualdo Six make their label debut. Their programme of motets ranges widely across the religious musical landscapes of medieval and Tudor England.