Composer: William Byrd
Performer: The Gesualdo Six
Conductor: Owain Park
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA68416
Release: 2023
Size: 2.4 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Ave verum Corpus
Afflicti pro peccatis nostris
02. I. Afflicti pro peccatis nostris
03. II. Ut eruas nos a malis
Mass for five voices
04. I. Kyrie
05. IIa. Gloria in excelsis Deo
06. IIb. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei
Tristitia et anxietas
07. I. Tristitia et anxietas
08. II. Sed tu Domine
Mass for five voices
09. IIIa. Credo in unum Deum
10. IIIb. Qui propter nos homines
11. IIIc. Et in Spiritum Sanctum
Ave Maria
12. I. Ave Maria, gratia plena
13. II. Alleluia
Mass for five voices
14. IVa. Sanctus
15. IVb. Pleni sunt caeli
16. IVc. Benedictus
17. Circumdederunt me
Mass for five voices
18. Va. Agnus Dei I & II
19. Vb. Agnus Dei III
Emendemus in melius
20. I. Emendemus in melius
21. II. Adiuva nos Deus
De lamentatione Jeremiae prophetae ‘Lamentations’
22. I. De lamentatione Jeremiae prophetae
23. II. Heth
24. III. Cogitavit Dominus
25. IV. Teth
26. V. Defixae sunt in terra portae eius
27. VI. Jod
28. VII. Sederunt in terra
29. VIII. Jerusalem, Jerusalem
One can debate the merits of one-voice-per-part performances of Renaissance sacred music, but it is doubtless most defensible when it comes to the Catholic, Latin-language music of William Byrd, intended for small recusant groups performing in secret spaces. Singers as skilled as those of the Gesualdo Six and their director/bass Owain Park really ought to be given carte blanche to perform whatever they want, however they want. These are brilliant performances. The motets are artfully sequenced so as to place the mass movements under the microscope, and these six singers, if possible, are getting even more uncannily accurate with each new outing. Sample the gorgeous initial gesture of Ave verum corpus, where the voices take on almost woodwind-like tones. The more emotionally intense texts receive special emphasis; Tristitia et anxietas both introduces the Credo of the mass and refers to the difficult situation of Byrd and his co-religionists. However, Park never loses the sense that this is sacred music; his group doesn’t begin to suggest the music of its namesake here. Hyperion has, after several albums, achieved optimal results with this sextet in the environment of the church of All Hallows, Gospel Oak, in London. A moving, often breathtaking release.