My Days
Fretwork
It's a remarkably haunting work, exquisitely sung here. Lightening the mood considerably are Gibbons's fantasias for viols, also deftly performed.
My Days
Fretwork
Purchase product
It's a remarkably haunting work, exquisitely sung here. Lightening the mood considerably are Gibbons's fantasias for viols, also deftly performed.
About
"Orlando Gibbons was a genius. We can probably all agree that this term is massively anachronistic. However, justified, I think, in order to establish his music on the same elevated niveau as Purcell or Beethoven or Schubert. While it is difficult to make such analogies when his music is still relatively rarely performed by comparison with these more illustrious names, but Gibbons’ fecundity of imagination, his masterly handling of his material, his emotional depth and maturity, the exquisite turns of phrase, his harmonic assurance, his contrapuntal ease and mastery - all this puts him in the first rank of composers" - Richard Boothby. "My Days is a ritualised memory piece about Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) written for two ensembles whose recordings informed so much of my musical development. I feel like I spend half of my life trying to trick string players to play like Fretwork, and vocalists to sing like the Hilliard Ensemble, so it was with enormous pleasure that I composed this piece." - Nico Muhly
Contents and tracklist
- Fretwork, Iestyn Davies (tenor), Samuel Boden (tenor), Hugo Hymas (tenor), Jimmy Holliday (bass-baritone)
- Fretwork, Catherine King (mezzo-soprano), Samuel Boden (countertenor), Charles Daniels (countertenor), Simon Gallear (tenor), Peter Harvey (bass-baritone)
Awards and reviews
October 2025
It's a remarkably haunting work, exquisitely sung here. Lightening the mood considerably are Gibbons's fantasias for viols, also deftly performed.
June 2025
Fretwork’s authority in this repertoire is beyond question. Their signature restraint, allowing the counterpoint to do the talking, offers a markedly different approach to Phantasm’s more thrusting, dynamic account (Linn, 2014).
29th May 2025
Muhly’s composition, with its urgent string figures, contrasts beautifully with the flowing imitations of Gibbons’ fantasias, around it... It sets off the string pieces around it, perfectly.