Fading: Nine Centuries of Choral Meditation & Reflection—The Gesualdo Six (Hyperion 68285)
In July, my wife Cynthia and I spent a glorious week at the Chautauqua Institution in New York (well, ALL the weeks are glorious at Chautauqua) and we took the opportunity to hear The Gesualdo Six perform live. The UK sextet shared fifteen selections written between 1498 and 2019 in a program called Wishing Tree, all performed very expressively and with scrupulous attention to intonation and balance in a hall whose acoustics were close to ideal. It was 90 minutes in heaven. Afterwards, at the “merch” table, all six members were engaging with enthusiastic audience members, and I asked countertenor Alasdair Austin which of their several CDs he would recommend. Without hesitation he presented me with Fading, recorded in 2020. “It’s a good introduction to us!” he said and then offered to have it signed by director Owain Park and the other members of the group. Now I have a prized memento of a wonderful afternoon, and the WCLV audience enjoys The Gesualdo Six’s peerless singing, all due to some CHQ summer serendipity! -Bill O'Connell