The Gesualdo Six - EMS Sunday 8th August

[ardcarp]

Owain Park conducts The Gesualdo Six in a concert of English motets at the York Early Music Festival, including works by Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Thomas Tomkins, John Sheppard, Thomas Weelkes, Robert White and Christopher Tye.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ykc6

Should be good. No Gesualdo though.....

[Nick Armstrong]

Owain Park conducts The Gesualdo Six in a concert of English motets at the York Early Music Festival, including works by Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Thomas Tomkins, John Sheppard, Thomas Weelkes, Robert White and Christopher Tye.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ykc6

Should be good. No Gesualdo though.....

Personally, I’m happy about that.

Enjoying this programme hugely. It’s going to get a few repeat listens.

[ardcarp]

I enjoyed it too. I had two slight reservations, which I voice without any criticism of this fine ensemble. One is that they included many well-known Byrd, Tallis and Tomkins pieces. Nothing wrong with that, but surely the York EMF offers an opportunity to break out of familiar Anglican cathedral repertoire...which they did with a few pieces. For instance, the John Forest Song of Solomon setting which was sometimes two-part, sometimes 3, was a novelty, and especially beautiful, I thought.
My other reservation is that the group, whilst concentrating on a balanced and blended ensemble, didn't allow enough...for want of a better word...expression, e.g. in When David Heard, though a rather good tenor member of the group was trying! Tempi generally rather slow, though the group came to life in the Weelkes O People Clap and the Byrd Laudate. For those who don't know about the Gesualdo Six, there are no sopranos, so a countertenor is on top all the time (apart from one piece) which is, for him, quite a feat of concentration and tuning. Just as in concerts given by the Hilliard Ensemble years ago, I did find that configuration a bit tiring on the ear, great though the countertenor was. Just one of my 'things'!