For more than thirty years Gothic Voices has been renowned for the excellence, refinement and spirituality of its performances of medieval music.
Catherine King - mezzo-soprano
Julian Podger - tenor
Steven Harrold - tenor
Simon Whiteley - baritone
Described by Gramophone as “absolute leaders in the field”, Gothic Voices is committed to bringing medieval music into the mainstream. The ensemble has built an impressive reputation for promoting previously unfamiliar music to audiences throughout the world. Gothic Voices continues to evolve, producing imaginative programmes and giving authoritative performances of great beauty.
Gothic Voices’s ground-breaking recording of the music of Hildegard of Bingen, A Feather on the Breath of God, remains one of the best-selling recordings of pre-classical music ever made. Since the ensemble was founded in 1980 by Christopher Page, Gothic Voices has produced an acclaimed discography of over twenty CDs for the Hyperion, Avie and Linn record labels, three of which won the coveted Gramophone Magazine Early Music Award. Recent discs for Linn Records include The Splendour of Florence with a Burgundian Resonance, Echoes of an Old Hall, The Dufay Spectacle and Nowell Syng We Bothe Al and Som, all well received by the critics: “such passion that there’s never a hint of dry scholarship.” (The Times). Their latest disc was released in November 2022.
The juxtaposition of old and new is also now a staple of the ensemble’s programmes. Praised for performances of “serenity and grace” (Financial Times), Gothic Voices enjoys exploring contemporary music, particularly pieces with medieval associations. They have commissioned and collaborated with living composers including Joanne Metcalf, Andrew Smith, Karen Takana, and Michael Pisaro. Their first disc combining Medieval and Contemporary music, Mary, Star of the Sea was released in 2016 to great critical acclaim: “a thoroughly engaging recording of impeccable clarity” (Choir and Organ).
Gothic Voices has toured widely throughout Europe and the Americas. They have appeared at the BBC Proms, the Spitalfields Festival, Wigmore Hall, Howard Assembly Room, the Southbank Centre and have performed at the Aldeburgh, Spitalfields, Cheltenham, Chester, Norfolk and Norwich, and Three Choirs Festivals, the Edinburgh International Festival, Plush Festival, as well as the York, Brighton and Birmingham Early Music Festivals. Overseas engagements include the Flanders and Utrecht Early Music Festivals, Laus Polyphoniae in Antwerp, Teater der Stadt Marl, Forum Alte Musik Köln, Musikfest Bremen, Montalbâne Festival, Abulensis Festival in Ávila, Festival de Musica Sacra Pamplona, Musica sacra para acompañar la Semana Santa Madrid, BRQ Vantaa Festival in Helsinki, and collaborations with the Oslo Domkor and Norwegian Academy of Music.
In December 2023 they embarked on a successful Canada tour with their very popular Christmas programme, as well as performing it at Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca in Spain and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.
This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.
The Splendour of Florence with a Burgundian Resonance
Linn Records, released November 2022
Gothic Voices and veteran harpist Andrew Lawrence-King realise [the French chansons] with warmth and affection, retaining and revitalising the vintage Gothic Voices sound. The ensemble is incisive, ripe-toned and finely balanced, and the hypnotically repeating strains of the various rondeaux (including the mesmerising pan-European ‘hit’ De tous biens plaine) are subtly varied with different scorings and timbres – delicate as a fine French tapestry.
Kate Bolton-Porciatti, BBC Music Magazine*****
More than four decades since its foundation, the ensemble Gothic Voices – usually four voices, with occasional additions – has lost none of its finesse or gleam. Newer groups, inspired by their example, have sprung up since, but Gothic Voices’ performance of medieval music remains peerless. Their pioneering 1985 album of music by Hildegard of Bingen, A Feather on the Breath of God, remains the best (and bestselling) of its kind… Whether or not this music [from The Splendour of Florence] really mirrors the magical proportions of the city’s most famous landmark, it is certainly just as sublime.
Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian
Gothic Voices maintains its standing as one of the outstanding vocal ensembles specializing in music before the Baroque. The voices are lovely, the balance exquisite, the sound captured in Boxgrove Priory warm and clear.
J. F. Weber, Fanfare Magazine
Atmospheric and of high quality, a program coordination from a sensitive and understanding hand. Once again, the Gothic Voices meet with approval. The completely unforced vocal art is beautiful in sound, without pretending to be beautiful, thanks to a lot of silence and space the music is not stifled, but can unfold freely. Perhaps unspectacular qualities in themselves, but they open up whole worlds. The occasional accompaniment this time is not a lute instrument, but the sometimes wonderfully buzzy harp sounds of Andrew Lawrence-King. (...) "The splendor of Florence - with a Burgundian resonance" is the apt title of this CD. While Brunelleschi's impressively large, completely cantilevered cathedral dome is considered the epitome of the Renaissance, the soundtrack comes from Northern Europe - made to resound by this terrific English vocal ensemble.
BR Mediathek
A tribute to the place where people travelled from our regions to make music and gain recognition. The beautiful Florence of the past, by voices of the present.
CultuurPakt
Fifteenth century song recitals are rare enough for this recording to be welcomed with open arms, particularly as a few of these are, if not first performances, then the first by performers of this calibre thus
Fabrice Fitch, Gramophone
It's all done undogmatically, with that stylistic expertise that has always distinguished Gothic Voices. For these vocalists, such music is virtually their daily bread, and the interpretation is just as effective, carried by a high degree of naturalness. Every melodic phrase gets exactly the space it needs to blossom calmly. Nothing seems "made" or even pimped. The music breathes and flows, and this also applies to the few chorale pieces.
Concerto
Echoes of an Old Hall
Linn Records, 2021
It bears recalling that the core cast of singers goes back to Page’s time; but the grain of the voices is fresh and subtly different – I was going to write ‘a touch mellower’, but then their keen edge can still take the breath away. In this the ensemble is backed by a sound image of great detail and immediacy, which truly captures the grain of the voices....
...Perhaps most unexpectedly of all, the account of Dunstable’s four-voice Veni Sancte Spiritus (one of the best-known, oft-recorded pieces of the 15th century) is unquestionably one of the finest yet made.
Fabrice Fitch, Gramophone [Editor's Choice]
acerbic clashes and angular, thrusting lines are fashioned by these singers into a compelling sonic journey. The slightly later English style of sweet concordant harmonies (called by the Burgundians the ‘contenance angloise’) perfectly suits their expertise in close harmony, and their performances of Forest’s ‘Qualis est dilectus’ and Damett’s ‘Beata Dei genetrix’ are entrancing.
Anthony Pryer, BBC Music Magazine
There is always room on my shelves for a new selection of music from the Old Hall Manuscript, particularly when the music is as well sung as it is here. Gothic Voices, always leaders in the field of mediaeval and early Renaissance polyphony, bring a wealth of joint experience to this CD… This is not just a random and generous selection of music from Old Hall though – it is extremely carefully structured, using the extraordinary ‘singers’ manifesto’ represented by the opening piece, Arae post libamini by Mayshuet de Joan, as a template. The second half of the programme, headed ‘reverberances’ is recorded partly at a distance, a radical departure for a group that in earlier times usually insisted on a very close recording ambience. This is an enthralling CD, imaginatively programmed with an excellent note by Julian Podger and compellingly performed. It will undoubtedly win many new admirers to the remarkable Old Hall Manuscript and its hugely important contents.
D. James Ross, Early Music Review
The combination of musical influences from the continent with the strongly indigenous elements of the Anglo-Saxon tradition make this repertoire a point of synthesis of extreme interest, which the four soloists of the Gothic Voices group enhance in an excellent way, also thanks to their perfect technical mastery and balanced amalgam of voices.
Medioevo
The singing is classic Gothic Voices: accurate, immersive, beautiful ... Full of subtlety and beauty, there's plenty of solo plainchant but these are experienced singers invested with a timeless freedom that's really instructive. We can feel for ourselves how the English fashion affected Dufay's music and the last piece is a wonderfully resonant coda and a vivid performance.
BBC Radio 3 Record Review
they display the easy nonchalance of true virtuosi. The rhythmical approach to the opening track demonstrates what I mean perfectly. There is not a hint of stiffness. And only a singer steeped in this music could attempt the almost improvisatory freedom of Catherine King’s Gregorian chant on track two.
So instead of excited discovery, feeling their way into the music, what we get is sublime confidence and, above all, a deep sense of love for this music.
David McDade, Musicweb International
Their goal is to "bring medieval music into the mainstream", but I observed at the time that their outstanding virtuosity and scholarly integrity guarantee that this is not a cheap popularizing of early music, but a communication of the vitality that is inherent in the medieval repertory. That ideal is certainly evident the present recording with highly engaging performances of music seldom heard in public. We are treated to amazingly clean tone with astoundingly precise ensemble and a nearly miraculous blending of solo voices.
William J Gatens, American Record Guide
"Nowell syng we bothe al and som"
Linn Records, released October 2019
it makes for bracing listening. Gothic Voices sing with such passion that there’s never a hint of dry scholarship. Favourite tracks? John Dunstaple’s thrilling motet Gaude virgo salutara and the poignantly simple carol Ther is no rose of swych virtu.
Geoff Brown, The Times *****
The glowing blend of tone and fluidity of phrasing in Dunstaple’s ‘Gaude virgo salutata’ is typical of all 25 tracks on the recording. Among these, mezzo-soprano Catherine King’s gently caressing ‘Lullay, lullay: Als I lay’ and the jubilant ‘Nowell: Owt of your slepe’ are obvious highlights, and the sound is excellent
Terry Blain, BBC Music Magazine
This marvellously varied programme is rounded off with the joyous carol Nowell: Now man is bryghter, a sentiment the listener will surely agree with by the end of the disc. Whether you’re interested in the early development of a distinctively English musical style or simply want the authentic taste of a medieval Christmas celebration, Gothic Voices’ immensely involving and stylish singing, beautifully recorded in Boxgrove Priory, Chichester, will prove a festive treat. There are excellent notes by tenor Julian Podger (the ensemble’s director), full texts and modern English translations, and handsome presentation. All in all, a uniquely absorbing Christmas disc that really stands out from the crowd.
Europadisc [Disc of the Week]
This has to be my Advent and Christmas choice this year…As of old, they eschew dressing the music up for a modern audience: there are just four first-rate voices at play here, with no cornetts, sackbutts or even an organ, and the results are as pure and perfect as on those earlier recordings.
Brian Wilson, musicweb-international
It seems extraordinary that this should be Gothic Voices' first Christmas-themed album; nevertheless, it has been worth the wait to hear these well-known works performed by this ensemble...The Christmas section contains familiar carols to satisfy all audiences including Lullay lullay: Als I lay and Ther is no rose of swych virtu but also gems of true Gothic Voices territory such as Queldryk's (fl c1400) Gloria and a Sanctus by Leonel Power (d1445). The Gloria in particular is a model of nimble, thrilling performance. Living up to their new tagline, 'unaccompanied close medieval harmonies', this album will surely become a firm seasonal favourite.
Edward Breen, Gramophone
"The Dufay Spectacle"
Linn Records, released April 2018
Voices and instruments alike swiftly entice the listener with their excellence and evocative atmosphere, Gothic Voices magnificently transporting us to their 15th-century sound world.
Martin Cullingford, Gramophone (Editor's Choice)
The take-away [from this disc] is that Gothic Voices fill this music with life. For all the clarity of the presentation - and this is exemplary, even when instruments are added - the expression always comes first.
Detlef Krenge, BR Klassik
Exquisite French chansons (in the formes fixes of rondeau and ballade) sit alongside richly textured Latin motets and arrangements. The four singers of Gothic Voices, the mezzo Clare Wilkinson and a quartet of instrumentalists seem perfectly attuned to Dufay’s intoxicatingly elegant, graceful style.
Stephen Pettitt, The Sunday Times
What a pleasure, then, to be able to welcome this Dufay recording as matching all the qualities that made Gothic Voices absolute leaders in the field. This time it looks very much as though Julian Podger is the presiding genius; and he has chosen the repertory very well [...] To mention all the glorious details here would break the banks of this review but I cannot avoid mentioning the marvellously experienced singing of Catherine King and her duetting with Steven Harrold: that is seriously classy.
David Fallows, Gramophone (Critics' Choice 2018)
The Dufay Spectacle is a beautiful, versatile and above all flawless musical portrait of the greatest composer of the 15th century, Guillaume Dufay. The venerable ensemble Gothic Voices sings refined, two- and three-voice polyphony, and the rhythmic ingenuity and melodic richness make this album an amazing journey through time.
Robert van Gijssel, De Volkskrant (de Volkskrant Best Albums of 2018, No. 3)
Given the complexity of rhythm and texture in much of this music, it is wonderful to hear such stylish performances in which vocal flexibility and clarity are never absent.
Tony Way, Limelight Magazine (Top 5 Vocal Recording of 2018)
Louth Contemporary Music Society
Dundalk Gaol, Ireland, June 2018
The exquisite Gothic Voices built new music out of old: 13th-century troubadour songs leading to sweet-sour music by Karen Tanaka and Linda Buckley.
Kate Molleson, The Guardian
York Early Music Christmas Festival
National Centre for Early Music, December 2016
During its 30 years, the distinguished vocal group Gothic Voices have built up quite a following. The National Centre for Early Music was full for their evening of late medieval music for Advent and Christmas last Friday. Their authority in this repertoire was obvious, and made for characterful and convincing performances. Close harmonies in the 12th-13th century Verbum Patris Humanatur sounded both ancient and curiously modern, while In Natali Novi Regis was touchingly intimate. The 13th-century Dou Way Robin/Sancta Mater Gratiae exuded seemly humility, and Alleluia Psallat brought a joyfully energetic close to the first half; its solo verse interlude showed mezzo-soprano Catherine King at her vibrant, intense best, with power in reserve. Rhythms crackled in the anonymous 15th-century carol Alleluya: A Newe Werk, while the anonymous narrative Nowell, Nowell, Nowell had an engaging rusticity. Ther Is No Rose Of Swych Virtu displayed the rich yet peaceful sonic purity of three perfectly blended voices.
Care and artistry were also lavished on liturgical items, including Dunstaple’s resonant Magnificat and the magnificent Gloria from the 15th-century Missa Caput. Queldryk’s contrasting setting of the Gloria seemed to revel gleefully in its text’s sheer wordiness… this was a thoroughly enjoyable concert, presented with scholarly authenticity.
The York Press
York early music Christmas festival created an opportunity to hear how the words of the Magnificat flowered in the minds of composers over some 250 years. The earliest, by the 15th-century English composer John Dunstaple was a sublimely minimal three-part setting sung by medieval specialists Gothic Voices
The Guardian
Spitalfields Winter Festival
Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London, December 2016
Across town, Spitalfields Music, celebrating 40 years of Festivals, launched its latest winter edition… The vocal quartet of Gothic Voices unfolded an imaginative Marian sequence of 12th – 15th century settings, with modern interpolations by Joanne Metcalf and Andrew Smith, in the beautiful little history-soaked Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London
Paul Driver, The Sunday Times
“Mary Star of the Sea”
Linn Records, released August 2016
Ancient and modern often sit alongside in sacred music. In putting together a musical portrait of Mary, mother of Jesus, Gothic Voices have turned to composers medieval and contemporary. The mood throughout is one of serenity and grace. In new works by Joanne Metcalf and Andrew Smith, American and English respectively, the old reverence takes on a subtly distinctive modern tone. The membership of Gothic Voices has changed over the years, but the present four singers have lost nothing of the group’s original purity and fine sense of balance.
Richard Fairman, Financial Times
This welcome revitalisation of an iconic group is characterised by warmth of tone and beautiful blend. Their selection of Marian medieval monody and polyphony, arranged with the greatest care and taste into two parts expressing her heavenly and human attributes, includes Latin and old English texts, offering differently intimate sound worlds. Alongside glorious, delicately nuanced new works by the brilliant American Joanne Metcalf, including the magical 'Music for the Star of the Sea' , and the affectionately sonorous 'Stond wel Moder, under rode' from Andrew Smith, here is a thoroughly engaging recording of impeccable clarity.
Rebecca Taverner, Choir and Organ
The four singers of Gothic Voices produce an exceptionally good consort sound as well as impressing in their various solo roles...[a] beautiful recording.
Andrew Benson-Wilson
A fascinating release… Gothic Voices are still a formidable force.
Gary Higginson, MusicWeb International
Cadogan Hall
London - March 2015
Gothic Voices, an ensemble synonymous with all-vocal performances of medieval music, made a welcome return to the London stage... key to the mesmeric stage presence of the quartet, there were no tuning forks, and no humming. Rather, monodic and polyphonic works alike were plucked as if from mid-air allowing the programme’s sequence to unfold and envelope the audience. This also held true with the modern compositions, which were performed with equal panache... Andrew Smith’s two-part Stond wel, moder, under rode (Stand well, mother under the cross) set the second half ablaze with searing harmonies served up with relish by these assured vocalists... The ensemble’s tag line ‘unaccompanied close medieval harmonies’ is apt. Their clearly etched tuning and uncluttered style suits the narrow compass of the music well, and their warm blend brings intimacy to the vertical qualities of medieval repertoire. Topped with the rich vocals of mezzo-soprano Catherine King, their sound has become less hard-line over the years and now provides an important alternative to today’s prevailing countertenor-led sound-world... Gothic Voices are supreme.
Edward Breen, Early Music Today
brilliant and hypnotic, its busy texture dazzling with vocal virtuosity and the miracle of fitting everything together... a stunning performance from the singers... The group's performances of the contemporary repertoire was admirably confident and stylish, whilst their performances of the medieval pieces were thankfully without a sense of prissiness and instead full of stylish vigour.
Robert Hugill, Planet Hugill
“A Laurel for Landini - 14th Century Italy’s Greatest Composer”
Avie Records (released autumn ’08)
There could be no better introduction to the delights of late-medieval music...enjoyably intriguing...Gothic Voices make imaginative use of varied scorings, and their lively, expressive performances are first class.
Elizabeth Roche , Daily Telegraph
This CD is a delight. It contains music which is focused; intimate without being breathily urgent; lightly melodious and shot through with clean, expressive singing... Gothic Voices have the gift of being able to bring such music to life so effortlessly...This is an exciting, profound and excellently executed CD.
Mark Sealey, MusicWeb International
...superbly blended Gothic Voices... the performances capture Landini's almost jazzy, syncopated rhythms, lively counterpoint and melodic flourishes to perfection.
Robert Levett, International Record Review
Taking intelligent and tasteful programming to even greater heights, Gothic Voices in ‘A Laurel for Landini’ showcase the 14th century maestro in an ideal balance…exceptionally fine and virtuosic performance.
Rebecca Tavener, Choir and Organ
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The Splendour of Florence with a Burgundian Resonance
Exploring a collection of Franco-Flemish music that was found in or associated with Florence, showcasing the city in all its splendour and lavishness, a city that proved a creative magnet for the highly-skilled and inventive compositional work of the outstanding composers of the Burgundian tradition.
5 or 6 singers, medieval harp
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Echoes of an Old Hall
A programme of music from the late 14th and early 15th Centuries, from the Old Hall Manuscript by composers such as Dunstaple, Power and Cooke, contrasted with music from the same period on the continent by Dufay, Binchois, Lymburgia and others.
6 singers
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The Dufay Spectacle
In a pageant of versatility featuring France’s greatest pre-Renaissance composer we enter the world of a grand New Year’s Day wedding feast, full of optimism and vision, tempered by playful emotional hardship, the music teasingly exploring the relationship between both, solemnised with some of Dufay’s greatest motets and a festive use of instruments to mark the splendour of the occasion. From this final flourish of the medieval era we hear in Dufay’s quintessential Burgundian virtuosity how its musical richness has reached the point when it is about to burst into the new artistry and ideas of the Renaissance. The Dufay Spectacle celebrates this artist’s genius with an eclectic show of frolicking and passionate robustness, plaintive devotional ardour, now with slow, dark rhythms, now upbeat cascades of melody, and thrilling complex rhythms. As the central chanson rings out its New Year’s promise ce jour de l’an is indeed a day to celebrate.
Motets and songs by Guillaume Dufay (c.1397-1474)
4-6 singers, sackbut, shawm, fiddle, harp (also available with singers only)
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Nowel Syng We Bothe Al and Som
A gathering of music-lovers during the Christmas season today will often result in a hearty carol singing evening, with its focus on the wonderful melodies of the past. Imagine such an event 600 years ago, complete with some of the music we call old being utterly modern, and when their music ‘from the past’ reached back a further 300 years… Hear the fervour of known and unknown carols in their original 15th century form, and the elegance of their ingenious forerunners in this celebratory interplay of narrative and symbolic poetry picturing the biblical stories of Mary and Jesus, and bound together with a mark of festive ritual by large-scale mass movements by early English celebrities Dunstaple and Power.
Music by Leonel Power (1370 or 85-1445), John Dunstaple (c.1390-1453). Anon. 12th-15th centuries, England
4 singers
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Mary, Star of the Sea
A musical exploration of powerful ancient poetic texts, set by medieval English masters and complemented by present-day responses to their themes, Mary – Star of the Sea celebrates the biblical matriarch in her various guises and images that have grown up through eons of continuous fascination: celestial queen, guiding light, mediator, caring mother, virgin lover. ‘Out of the heavens a flaming band dropped, formed in a circle like a crown, that girdled and encompassed her’ – this vibrant imagery with its circling, soaring melodies of poetry describing the mythical qualities of Mary, and expressions of anguish and torment by the cross displaying her human side – ‘Son, how could I refrain from tears, I see those streams of blood run out of your heart to my feet’. Hear how the force of Marian lore transcends time and age, and how contemporary compositional skill combines with that force to unify the medieval and contemporary responses.
Music by John Dunstaple (c.1390-1453), his contemporaries and earlier, Joanne Metcalf (*1958), Andrew Smith (*1970)
4 singers
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A Laurel for Landini
A programme of music by Landini and his contemporaries.
4 singers, medieval harp
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The Honour and Virtue of Medieval England
A selection of mainly anonymous 11th-13th Century music from the time of the Crusades.
4 singers
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The Testament of St Gregory
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Una Festa del Corpus
A programme of Spanish music including pieces by Peñalosa, Guerrero and Victoria amongst other lesser known names.
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Beständigkeit und Wandel
In this programme, the first half involves music from before the reformation by composers such as Isaac and Senfl and the 2nd half consists of Lutheran Chorales and Chorale Motets by Walther, Resinarius, amongst others.
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Chaucer and his musical contemporaries
Some Chaucer poems translated into German and interspersed with readings by an actor, featuring music from the same period.
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