English Motets

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: William Byrd, Owain Park, John Sheppard, Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, Thomas Tomkins, William Cornysh, Robert I Parsons, Orlando Gibbons, Robert White, John Dunstable, Thomas Morley

Genre:

Vocal

Label: Hyperion

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 72

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: CDA68256

CDA68256. English Motets

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Suscipe quaeso Dominus Thomas Tallis, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Thomas Tallis, Composer
Vigilate William Byrd, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
William Byrd, Composer
Loquebantur variis linguis Thomas Tallis, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Thomas Tallis, Composer
When David heard Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
If ye love me Thomas Tallis, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Thomas Tallis, Composer
Libera nos, salva nos I John Sheppard, Composer
John Sheppard, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Miserere mei, Deus William Byrd, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
William Byrd, Composer
Christe qui lux es Robert White, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
Robert White, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Veni, Sancte spiritus John Dunstable, Composer
John Dunstable, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Haec Dies Thomas Morley, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Thomas Morley, Composer
Quemadmodum John Taverner, Composer
John Taverner, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Ave Maria, mater Dei William Cornysh, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
William Cornysh, Composer
O Lord, in thy wrath rebuke me not Orlando Gibbons, Composer
Orlando Gibbons, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Deliver me from mine enemies Robert I Parsons, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
Robert I Parsons, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
Ne irascaris Domine William Byrd, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
William Byrd, Composer
Libera nos, salva nos II John Sheppard, Composer
John Sheppard, Composer
Owain Park, Composer
The Gesualdo Six
The Gesualdo Six are the latest all-male, one-to-a-part a cappella vocal ensemble to emerge from the English choral scene, and this is their recording debut. They sport not one but two countertenors, who occasionally double up on the top line in five-voice pieces; and unlike some of ensembles of its kind, the director, Owain Park, does not himself sing (at least not here). As one has come to expect given such a pedigree, 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.

Promise in spades, then, but reservations also. One notes in the more sombre pieces (which make up the bulk of the music) a tendency for tempos to decelerate so that what began slowly finally verges on the ponderous. This may be symptomatic of a reverential attitude that extends not just to the most famous pieces (Byrd’s Ne irascaris, Domine and Tallis’s Suscipe quaeso) but to programming. An anthology of English motets needs little justification, but this has an air of ‘greatest hits’ about it – especially when the two outliers, Dunstable and Tomkins, are each represented by one very famous piece. The contrast of styles can at times jar, for example when Morley’s frothy, canzonetta-like ‘motet’ follows Dunstable; more seriously, it’s a pity for such a talented ensemble to introduce itself so conservatively. (Equally jarring is the edit on the final chord of Byrd’s Vigilate.) In short, I look forward to hearing them in a more focused recital.

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