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Track(s) taken from CDA68299

The Annunciation

First line:
The angel and the girl are met
composer
Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012)
2011
arranger
Joseph Wicks (b1993)
two additional parts
author of text
Edwin Muir (1887-1959)

The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park (director)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
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Recording details: January 2019
Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by David Hinitt
Release date: November 2019
Total duration: 4 minutes 7 seconds
 

Reviews

‘A delightful album by an all-male a cappella group is hard to come by—all too often they’re po-faced or schmaltzy; but this is neither. An elegant blend of old and new’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The close recording of the male-voice line-up of The Gesualdo Six on Christmas reveals the tightness of their ensemble in repertoire ranging from Praetorius to Cheryl Frances-Hoad. Tenor Joseph Wicks’ a cappella arrangement of Jonathan Harvey’s The Annnunciation and director Owain Park’s vibrant On the Infancy of our Saviour compliment well-chosen pieces, making for a delightful and informative listening experience—and a thoughtful stocking filler!’ (Choir & Organ)

‘What I love about this group—this is just their second disc—is it’s incredibly natural, it’s very forthright: they are so musical, so sensitive; we see straight through to the text … the way they listen to each other—the Tallis, these long phrases—I don’t know how they can sing it that slowly with so few singers. It really is miraculous! … I love that sense of magic that they get … not something kitsch and traditional and retrospective but something that has life in it’ (BBC Record Review)

„Unter dem schichten Titel 'Christmas' ist bei Hyperion allerdings alles andere als eine bloße Pflichtübung erschienen … gemeinsam verfügen sie [The Gesualdo Six] über eine reich sich verströmende Substanz, die Stimmen zeichnen klar, sind fein balanciert und zur edlen Verschmelzung fähig … in der Summe ist das ein eigenständiges, gelegentlich auch eigenwilliges Programm, mit schroffen, aber fruchtbaren stilistischen Wechseln auf engstem Raum“ (Klassik.com, Germany)» More
PERFORMANCE
RECORDING
The Annunciation, a setting of words by the Orcadian poet Edwin Muir, was composed in 2011 for the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, by British composer Jonathan Harvey who believed this would be his final work. Harvey sought a form of spirituality with unity at its core, with particular emphasis on the interaction between energy and stillness, an approach that finds a parallel in the Advent season’s combination of expectation and reflection. The beginning of each stanza is marked by the introduction of a musical idea that subtly refers back to the opening statement. A moment of calm in the centre of the work—‘Feathered through time’—is later recaptured, as the ‘deepening trance’ of the final stanza is brought alive with a beautiful series of closing chords.

from notes by Owain Park © 2019

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