Gothic Voices - Echoes of an Old Hall - Choir & Organ

If you judge recordings partially in terms of generosity of length, you can’t fault Echoes of an Old Hall [Linn CKD 644] from Gothic Voices. You’ll have guessed that this is a celebration of material from the Old Hall Manuscript, and at 76 minutes it covers a lot of 14th- and 15th-century musical ground. The first half, featuring English composers, makes much of the sweet intervals of the third and sixth called the ‘contenance angloise’; the second half contains what they term ‘reverberations’ in the form of works by Franco-Flemish composers. An uncompromisingly clear and immediate recording offers nowhere to hide, so it is a joy that these four singers (with two guest voices for specific scorings), whether solo or together, don’t need to seek shelter. Their scholarship extends to historically informed pronunciation, going the extra mile to present a late medieval soundscape of impeccable credentials.