Description
We are delighted to present our third album, Fading (2020). 
About the CD
Since the fourth century, the service of Compline has marked the end of the day, ushering in the darkness of the night. Much of the music here is inspired by this ancient service. The first half of the album features a selection of atmospheric works that relate to the transition between light and darkness. Then there is a turning point; the light returns, birds sing, and flowers bloom once more. Owain Park © 2020
Tracklist
Te lucis ante terminum Thomas Tallis (c.1505 – 1585)
Illumina faciem tuam Carlo Gesualdo (1566 – 1613)
Look down, O Lord Jonathan Seers (b.1954)
Phos hilaron Owain Park (b.1993)
Fading Joanna Marsh (b.1970)
Lullaby ‘My Sweet Little Baby’ William Byrd (c.1540 – 1623)
Marjal aega magada Veljo Tormis (1930 – 2017)
Media vita Nicholas Gombert (1495 – 1560)
Laulan lapsele Veljo Tormis
Ad te clamamus (Salve Regina) Christopher Tye (c.1505 – 1572/3)
Lase kiik käia! Veljo Tormis
Versa est in luctum Alonso Lobo (1555 – 1617)
Potrò viver io più se senza luce Luca Marenzio (c.1553 – 1599)
Seeds in flight Joanna Marsh
O Ecclesia, oculi tui Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179)
My heart is like a singing bird Sarah Rimkus (b.1990)
O Little Rose, O Dark Rose Gerda Blok-Wilson (b.1955)
Âiutus (Lullaby) Veljo Tormis
Reviews
Limelight Magazine, Lisa MacKinney | August 2020
★★★★★ – Editor’s Choice & Vocal Recording of the Year
“The Gesualdo Six kicks it out of the park with this flawless recording. … Like its predecessor, Fading consists of a cappella works taken almost entirely from two eras: the Renaissance and the present day. This is not the most obvious combination nor easiest to pull off successfully, but Fading is, happily, a triumph on multiple fronts. … O Ecclesia is ephemeral and transcendent, an elusive melody that curls away from a low drone and evaporates; a vision so brief one might doubt its existence at all. It is a truly extraordinary, heart-stopping moment. … These performances are superb: precision, warmth, power and delicacy united in an utterly beguiling whole, all the while maintaining perfect definition as each vocal tonality inhabits its own sphere.”
Music Frames, Mattie Poels | August 2020
“The British, traditionally masters in performing vocal polyphonic (early) music, also excel in optima forma on the new album by The Gesualdo Six. These vocalists have an incredibly beautiful and majestic unanimity in the performance, in which they excellent shows the respect for these wonderful compositions. An absolute must-have!”
MusicWeb International, Mike Parr | June 2020
“The program has been very well thought out and divided for contrasting atmosphere of the works. Throughout the disc the musicians sing with splendid attention to detail; each voice is a shimmering thread that is woven into the dense tapestry of sound they create. There is a delicate musical balance that they maintain throughout all of the works that only increases my admiration for this group and Hyperion’s commitment to promote their exemplary work. Hyperion’s engineers have excelled in a recording of demonstration quality. Highly recommended.”
Choir and Organ Magazine, Brian Morton | April 2020
★★★★★
“Combining Tallis and Gesualdo with modern/contemporary composers such as Sarah Rimkus and Gerda Blok-Wilson and the late Veljo Tormis can be tricky for an ensemble, but The Gesualdo Six and Owain Park are fearless and have shaped a programme that almost plays out as a composed sequence. The singing is impeccable… A wonderful recording.”
BBC Radio 3 Record Review, Anna Lapwood & Andrew McGregor | 18 April 2020
“I think The Gesualdo Six and Owain Park are just incredible at this ingenious programming, so there’s this melding of renaissance polyphony with contemporary choral music. I feel it’s a very classy way to look at music by female composers that people might not know… It’s just extremely good all woven together with this thread of music for night-time, music for compline. Blend and intonation really are [impeccable]… You can tell this is a group that work together almost constantly, they know each other’s voices so well… solo singing with a really clear sensitivity of ensemble. A beautiful recording.”
Gramophone Magazine: Editor’s Choice, Alexandra Coghlan | April 2020
“Ingeniously programmed and impeccably delivered, with that undefinable excitement that comes from a group of musicians working absolutely as one, The Gesualdo Six’s ‘Fading’ is startlingly, urgently excellent. If their first album (‘English Motets’, 4/18) pricked up the ears and their second (‘Christmas’, 12/19) confirmed their talent, this third recording from the young all-male vocal ensemble feels like an arrival, showing us exactly what this group is capable of. The quality of the singing – the blend and bass-anchored balance, the rounded, unforced tone, the control from solo voices – is exhilarating. The Gesualdo Six are the real deal. Far from fading, they’re just coming into focus.”
