English Motets – The Gesualdo Six

   in Choir & Organ (Jul, 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. …