Owain Park, The Gesualdo Six – Morning Star: Music for Epiphany Down the Ages (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Owain Park, The Gesualdo Six – Morning Star: Music for Epiphany Down the Ages (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:09:30 minutes | 2,51 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hyperion Records

Owain Park was born in Bristol, UK in 1993. His compositions are published by Novello, and have been performed internationally by ensembles including the Tallis Scholars and the Aurora Orchestra.

As a conductor, he maintains a busy schedule of projects with ensembles including the BBC Singers, the Academy of Ancient Music, London Mozart Players, Cappella Cracoviensis, and Cambridge Chorale. His own vocal consort, The Gesualdo Six, tour extensively around the world and have been lauded for their interpretation of renaissance and contemporary music.

Owain is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), and was awarded the Dixon Prize for improvisation, having been Senior Organ Scholar at Wells Cathedral and Trinity College Cambridge. He holds a Masters degree in composition and regularly appears as a singer with ensembles including Tenebrae, Gabrieli Consort, The Sixteen and Polyphony

After nearly ten years of existence, the male vocal sextet The Gesualdo Six, formed behind the desks of Cambridge University, can boast of having developed a tone and personality that are all their own, already immortalized on eight albums released on Hyperion. Since Universal Music Group’s purchase of the label, digital music fans can rejoice about being able to enjoy the Hyperion catalogue as it is gradually made available on streaming platforms and for download.

The Morning Star is the first new release from The Gesualdo Six since the label’s new life. With the approach of the holiday season, the sextet has come up with a repertoire that sweeps nearly five centuries of vocal music. The common thread that links the works? They all are anchored in a seminal episode of the Biblical tradition: the night the infant Christ was visited by the Three Wise Men. The album features titles from the Franco-Flemish school of the sixteenth century (Lassus, Manchicourt) to contemporary compositions by Arvo Pärt and Joanna Marsh.

The vocal perfection of the Gesualdo Six can’t help but unite all sensibilities, going beyond any potential divides within this program that freely and happily jumps from era to era, at the risk of startling the listener’s ear. They manage to do so on account of the musical genius of the singers, who are perfect on all counts: their sonoric unity, the fashioning of their timbre, their perfectly-coordinated breathing. A breathtaking jewel of a record that is likely one of, if not the, most beautiful vocal music production of 2023. – Pierre Lamy

Tracklist:
1-01. Owain Park – Weihnachtslieder, op. 8: No. 3, The Three Kings (Arr. Atkins/Park) (02:42)
1-02. Owain Park – Anonymous: Ecce advenit (03:03)
1-03. Owain Park – Eccard: Maria wallt zum Heiligtum (03:21)
1-04. Owain Park – Byrd: Ecce advenit (05:15)
1-05. Owain Park – Anonymous: Omnes de Saba venient (03:01)
1-06. Owain Park – Marsh: In Winter’s House (05:48)
1-07. Owain Park – Handl: Mirabile mysterium (03:51)
1-08. Owain Park – Howells: 3 Carol-Anthems: No. 1, Here Is the Little Door (04:10)
1-09. Owain Park – Anonymous: Alleluia. Vidimus stellam (02:36)
1-10. Owain Park – I. Magi veniunt ab oriente (03:06)
1-11. Owain Park – Magi veniunt ab oriente: II. Magi videntes stellam (03:39)
1-12. Owain Park – Pärt: Morning Star (02:36)
1-13. Owain Park – Peacock: There Is No Rose (03:03)
1-14. Owain Park – Anonymous: Reges Tharsis (02:04)
1-15. Owain Park – Lassus: Tribus miraculis, LV 219 (03:12)
1-16. Owain Park – Park: O Send Out Thy Light (02:33)
1-17. Owain Park – Anonymous: Vidimus stellam (00:57)
1-18. Owain Park – Bingham: In Mary’s Love (04:56)
1-19. Owain Park – I. Illuminare, Jerusalem, quia venit lumen tuum (03:28)
1-20. Owain Park – Illuminare, Jerusalem: II. Filii tui de longe venient (03:07)
1-21. Owain Park – Anonymous: Bethlehem, of Noblest Cities (02:51)

Download: