Description
We are delighted to present our eleventh album, Wishing Tree (2026). 
About the CD When we first stepped outside the stone walls of the Cambridge chapels where we had spent our first year performing together, we embarked on a tour that contained what might well be described as a smorgasbord of music. The first half alone ran to over an hour! I like to think our programming has grown a little more disciplined since then, but the green shoots of this collection, now called Wishing Tree, first appeared during that summer tour of 2015, when we gave ten concerts over nine days, bundled into a seven-seater with our suitcases. This programme explores a more secular repertoire than our previous albums, moving from Renaissance works that celebrate nature and love to contemporary settings, in which composers breathe fresh life into the verses of Christina Rossetti and Kathleen Jamie. A number of pieces cast light on childhood, conjuring moments of innocence which are lost and then found. Interwoven throughout are re-imaginings of traditional British folk songs, arranged by musicians continuing a longstanding tradition of developing and reshaping existing material—a tradition championed by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Lucy Broadwood in the late nineteenth century. We wanted this collection to sit comfortably alongside our other recordings, both in spirit and in sound. To that end, we returned to the Church of All Hallows in Gospel Oak, a space whose acoustic allows the voices to bloom with clarity, capturing the colour and detail that this repertoire demands. Wishing Tree is the culmination of these threads: a journey through time, poetry, and song, rooted in tradition yet alive with contemporary expression. Owain Park © 2026
Tracklist
This sweet and merry month of May William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
Put out into the deep David Bednall (b. 1979)
Bushes and briars Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
The wind’s warning Alison Willis (b. 1971)
The wishing tree Joby Talbot (b. 1971)
The oak and the ash Anonymous arr. Gordon Langford (1930-2017)
My bonny lies over the ocean Anna Semple (b. 1997) arr. Owain Park (b.1993)
El grillo Josquin des Prez (c.1450/55 – 1521)
Summer shower Christen Taylor Holmes (b. 2000)
The lark in the clear air Anonymous arr. James Whitbourn (1963-2004)
Il bianco e dolce cigno Jacques Arcadelt (?1505-1568)
The silver swan Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
The blue bird Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)
Fantasia on English children’s songs Owain Park (b. 1993)
Petites voix Francies Poulenc (1899-1963)
My love is like a red, red rose Anonymous arr. Simon Carrington (b.1942)
Reviews
BBC Music Magazine, Jeremy Pound | June 2026
★★★★★
“The vocal agility, character and superb blend that has made the group such a success in those 11 years is on display throughout.”
Classic FM’s Album of the Week, Aled Jones | June 2026
“This is an all-singing gem of a disc by The Gesualdo Six. They are fabulous singers who are quite brilliant live too. It really is super!”
theartsdesk, Graham Rickson | June 2026
“The Gesualdo Six’s Wishing Tree contains rather more secular repertoire than they usually offer, here combining Renaissance pieces in celebration of nature with contemporary pieces, and a thread of folksong. … But, the secular character notwithstanding, perhaps my favourite track was David Bednall’s beautiful Put out into the deep, five-part harmonies with a crunchy edge, and the singers’ projection of the biblical text impeccable, even when the texture fragments. The singing is of the standard we have come to expect from The Gesualdo Six, as is Adrian Peacock’s production.”
BBC Record Review | June 2026
“More secular music than their previous albums, a programme that they tell us emerged from their first tour outside the walls of the Cambridge chapels where they were first performing together over a decade ago. Renaissance pieces to contemporary composers, arrangements of traditional folksongs woven throughout—it’s a delight!”
