フェイディング～終課集

オウェイン・パークとジェズアルド・シックスは、いにしえの終課の祈りを中心に瞑想的な内省を織り上げています。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

The Gesualdo Six (actually there are seven of them including director Owain Park, who sings bass as well as directing) are among the UKs hot vocal groups. Fading, their third album, is inspired by the days-end Compline service, and it may make a good place to begin with the groups remarkable work. Their atmospheric, sensuous sound fits the strongly spiritual quality of many of the lyrics, and they have a consistency of approach strong enough to tie together some rather diverse material. For the most part, Park alternates Renaissance works with contemporary pieces. There are subdivisions within each category, though, and this is what gives the program its peculiarly powerful variety. On the Renaissance side, there are English pieces and Continental works of the 16th century that venture into more chromatic territory. The one by the groups namesake is the least chromatic of these (Gesualdos sacred music, for the most part, was a good deal less experimental than his madrigals), but pieces like Gomberts Media vita dovetail nicely with the little-known chromatic folk song settings of composer Veljo Tormis. In all, a highly original program, beautifully executed, and well recorded at St. Georges Church, Chesterton, Cambridge.