English Motets

The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park

The versatile Owain Park adds another two roles—those of singer and director—to his burgeoning Hyperion discography, while The Gesualdo Six make their label debut. Their programme of motets ranges widely across the religious musical landcsapes of medieval and Tudor England.

Byrd:
 Miserere mei
 Ne irascaris Domine
 Vigilate (from Cantiones sacrae 1589)

Cornysh the elder:
 Ave Maria Mater Dei

Dunstaple:
 Veni Sancte Spiritus

Gibbons, O:
 O Lord, in thy wrath rebuke me not

Morley:
 Haec dies

Parsons, R:
 Deliver me from mine enemies

Sheppard, J:
 Libera nos 1 & 2
 Libera nos, salva nos
 Libera nos, salva Nos. II

Tallis:
 If ye love me
 Loquebantur variis linguis
 Suscipe quaeso Domine

Taverner:
 Quemadmodum a 6

Tomkins:
 When David Heard

White, Robert:
 Christe qui lux es et dies I

"The line-up might play safe, but it’s all exquisitely done, collegiate smoothness and blend to the fore. And what blend! The harmonic voicing is immaculate yet always sensitive to the imperatives of the polyphonic flow…Weavers of rich and plangent aural tapestries, the Gesualdo Six meld style and substance with beguiling sure-footedness. An auspicious debut."
BBC Music Magazine - June 2018 *****

"Multi-talented musician Owain Park sings with and directs his male-voice consort in an impressive showcase of English polyphony by Byrd, Tomkins, Sheppard, White, Dunstaple, Morley, Taverner, Cornysh, Gibbons, and Parsons et al, including Tallis’s penitential wonder, Suscipe quaeso. Their rich, warm blend and finely honed phrasing create glowing beauty in viscerally spiritual responses to the texts. Their ardour is occasionally excessive with romantically over-stretched tempi discomforting to the ear: just because you can sing that slowly doesn’t mean you should! Daringly deep or drowned in ambition? Whatever one thinks, this is an admirable demonstration of ensemble expertise and total commitment."
Choir & Organ - July 2018 ****