Anthony Pryer finds himself engrossed in this magical celebration of Epiphany from Owain Park’s always exquisite vocal sextet
RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Morning Star
Works by Byrd, Cornelius, Eccard, Handl, Howells, Lassus, Manchicourt, Judith Bingham, Joanna Marsh, Owain Park, Adrian Peacock, plus traditional works (arr. Park)
The Gesualdo Six
Hyperion CDA68404 78:40 mins
The Gesualdo Six was founded almost ten years ago and since then it has produced spectacular concerts around the globe and a recording every year since 2018. Their style of singing – perfectly blended vocal harmony, exquisite tuning, inventive phrasing, delicately poised textural clarity – provides a magical accompaniment to the warmth of the Christmas season. Perhaps problematically, they had already produced an impressive recording of Christmas pieces in 2019, with arrangements of some of the old favourites such as Jingle Bells, Away in a Manger, In dulci jubilo etc. The solution? They have turned instead to the period just after Christmas (the Epiphany, 6 January) when the three wise men presented gifts to the Christchild and brought news of him to the world. So the title of this recording refers to the star that they followed rather than a communist newspaper, though 6 January also happens to be Christmas Eve in Russia.
Owain Park has threaded these pieces together with balance and ingenuity by inserting between the polyphonic works five plainsongs taken from the Mass on the Feast of the Epiphany. Chant performances on recordings tend to be somewhat perfunctory and dull, but here each item is performed with marvelous attention to both phrasing, style and message. The strong Introit reflects the coming of the ‘mighty Lord’, the Gradual sparkles with luminous joy at the gifts, the Alleluia evokes praises from the Three Kings, the darkly glittering Offertory offers up its cascading runs like clouds of incense, and the downwardly transposed Communion states simply and quietly the purpose of the visit of the wise men.
The singers are at their brilliant best in pieces that demand gentle, embracing harmonic blending – for example in
