– Gramophone Magazine

Praised for their imaginative programming and impeccable blend, the Gesualdo Six formed in 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories in Cambridge. They now have an international profile, performing at major festivals across the UK, Europe, North America and Australia. Notable highlights include a concert as part of the distinguished Deutschlandradio Debut Series, a Wigmore Hall debut and tour of the USA in 2021, and collaborations with the Brodsky Quartet, London Mozart Players, Luxmuralis, William Barton and Matilda Lloyd.

The group released their debut recording  – English Motets –  on Hyperion Records in early 2018 to critical acclaim. Other releases include a festive album of Christmas favourites, Josquin’s Legacy and Carlo Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday.

‘Exciting, inventive, vibrant’

 – MusicWeb International

Their programme traces the evolution of the madrigal from Renaissance composer Bartolomeo Tromboncino, through Palestrina and Monteverdi to Gyorgy Ligeti. The pioneering Monteverdi led the way in a new expressive style of composition, emphasising words as much as harmony and laying the foundation for many of the stylistic conventions of the Baroque. Ligeti’s Nonsense Madrigals parody earlier madrigals by using old compositional techniques as vehicles for humorous portrayals of texts from children’s literature by Lewis Carroll and William Brighty Rands.

 

The Flower of the Italian Madrigal
Bartolomeo Tromboncino – Viva amor, viva el fuoco
Philippe Verdelot – Italia Mia

Jacques Arcadelt – Il bianco e dolce cigno

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – Io son ferito, ahi lasso

Maddalena Casulana – Morir non può

Vittoria Aleotti – Al turbar de’ bei lumi

Alessandro Striggio – Misero Ohime

Luca Marenzio – Potrò viver io più se senza luce

Luca Marenzio – Senza il mio sole

Carlo Gesualdo – Felice primavera

Luzzasco Luzzaschi – Quivi sospiri pianti ed alti guai

Carlo Gesualdo – Moro, lasso

Claudio Monteverdi – Ch’ami la vita mia

Ronald Corp – Venite a intender

Judith Weir – Madrigal

György Ligeti – The Lobster Quadrille (from Nonsense Madrigals)