My Days

Straddling the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages, the music of Orlando Gibbons encompasses a vast range of vocal and instrumental music, from Anglican church services to voluptuous madrigals, hymn tunes to music for viol consort.

The acclaimed and pioneering viol consort Fretwork and an exceptional selection of British singing talent offer a snapshot of an astonishingly rich output. The programme features two of his great anthems - Behold, thou hast made my days as it were a span long & See, see the word is incarnate - some of his greatest consort music in six parts, probably the finest chamber music ever composed in England, his moving tribute to Prince Henry, and, lastly, the riotous Cries of London, a vocal and instrumental tour de force setting the calls of street vendors to music. Also included is a recent work written as a homage to Gibbons by the American composer Nico Muhly. With its hazy harmony and unexpected melodic twists, it is a fitting tribute to Gibbons and the Elizabethan and Tudor polyphonic tradition which so enthral Muhly.