Queen of Hearts: Laments and Songs of Regret for Queens Terrestrial and Celestial The Gesualdo Six & Owain Park

• Antoine Brumel (1460 - 1512):
• 1Brumel: Sub tuum praesidium04:21
• Josquin des Prez (1450 - 1521):
• 2des Prez: Praeter rerum seriem: I. Praeter rerum seriem03:07
• 3des Prez: Praeter rerum seriem: II. Virtus Sancti Spiritus03:20
• Loyset Compère (1445 - 1518):
• 4Compère: Plaine d'ennuy / Anima mea01:43
• Josquin des Prez:
• 5des Prez: Mille regretz02:13
• Antoine Brumel:
• 6Brumel: Sicut lilium inter spinas02:17
• Pierre de La Rue (1452 - 1518):
• 7La Rue: Secretz regretz02:31
• Costanzo Festa (1485 - 1545):
• 8Festa: Quis dabit oculis?: I. Quis dabit oculis?02:34
• 9Festa: Quis dabit oculis?: II. Heu nobis Domine01:38
• 10Festa: Quis dabit oculis?: III. Ergo ululate pueri02:27
• Owain Park (b. 1993):
• 11Park: Prière pour Marie03:27
• Antoine Brumel:
• 12Brumel: Du tout plongiet / Fors seulement03:00
• Antonius Divitis (1470 - 1530):
• 13Divitis: Ista est speciosa01:58
• Johannes Prioris (1485 - 1515):
• 14Prioris: Dulcis amica Dei01:29
• Jean Mouton (1459 - 1522):
• 15Mouton: Tota pulchra es02:12
• Jean L'Héritier (1480 - 1551):
• 16L'Héritier: Salve regina: I. Salve regina04:44
• 17L'Héritier: Salve regina: II. Eia ergo04:54
• Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade (b. 1989):
• 18Cruttwell-Reade: Plaisir n'ai plus04:15
• Jean Mouton:
• 19Mouton: De tous regretz02:08
• Antoine de Févin (1470 - 1511):
• 20Févin: Fors seulement02:25
• Johannes Prioris:
• 21Prioris: Consommo la vita mia01:23
• Nicolas Gombert (1495 - 1560):
• 22Gombert: Tous les regretz03:49
• Jacobus Clemens non Papa (1510 - 1555):
• 23Papa: Ego flos campi a 704:44
• Total Runtime01:06:39

Info for Queen of Hearts: Laments and Songs of Regret for Queens Terrestrial and Celestial

Queen of Hearts addresses and reflects on queens spiritual (the Virgin Mary) and temporal (Mary Tudor and Anne Boleyn, among others) in a programme of music largely of the sixteenth century, but spiced with two short works from the twenty-first.

Over the past few years, it has been a joy to delve further into the rich tapestry of musical works that inspired our earlier album Josquin’s legacy. Choosing the repertoire for a recording is a particularly exciting challenge, requiring careful selection of a handful of pieces that weave together to create a compelling story.

Josquin’s legacy explored the cross-currents of texts and the movement of ‘Oltremontani’ composers (from the Franco-Flemish School who came ‘over the Alps’ to northern Italy) as they travelled around Renaissance Europe. As we developed our concert programmes for performance, a new thread emerged: music that connected the queenly courts of Europe. There are several fantastic and beautifully illuminated sources containing music written for these courts, and many of them are preserved in the United Kingdom.

On this album, we explore music that venerates the Virgin Mary—the ‘regina caelorum’—and that memorializes her terrestrial counterparts, highlighting the interwoven lives of Anne of Brittany, Margaret of Austria, and—in England—Anne Boleyn and Mary Tudor. We feature works which build new upon old, in particular a number of motet-chansons where sacred Latin texts are presented alongside contemporary courtly concerns in the vernacular. Just as medieval Catholic liturgy appropriated the Song of Songs to venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary, motet-chansons allowed court composers to work Song of Songs texts into secular music for the court, blurring the distinction between heavenly and earthly queens.

The concluding piece in our programme is the remarkable Ego flos campi by Clemens non Papa, composed for seven voices. Recording this work was a poignant moment for the ensemble, as it was the last track we recorded with our outgoing bass, Samuel Mitchell, who has been with us for seven years. It was wonderful to have Alasdair Austin with us to complete the line-up. We have thoroughly enjoyed putting together this collection, and our particular thanks go to Guy James for his work researching and preparing editions of the music. I hope we have captured something of the intrigue and excitement we feel when singing this repertoire, and look forward to how this programme might develop in the coming years.

The Gesualdo Six
Owain Park, direction

The Gesualdo Six
is an award-winning British vocal ensemble comprising some of the UK’s finest consort singers, directed by Owain Park. Praised for imaginative programming and impeccable blend, the ensemble formed in 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories in Cambridge and has gone on to perform at numerous major festivals across the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Notable highlights include a concert in the distinguished Deutschlandradio Debut Series, performances at Wigmore Hall (London) and Miller Theatre (New York), and collaborations with Fretwork, the Brodsky Quartet, London Mozart Players, Luxmuralis, William Barton and Matilda Lloyd.

The ensemble integrates educational work into its activities, regularly holding workshops for young musicians and composers. The Gesualdo Six has curated two Composition Competitions, with the 2019 edition attracting entries from over 300 composers around the world. The group has commissioned new works from Joanna Ward, Kerensa Briggs, Deborah Pritchard, Joanna Marsh, Shruthi Rajasekar and Richard Barnard, and coronasolfège for 6 by Héloïse Werner.

Videos of the ensemble performing a diverse selection of works filmed in Ely Cathedral have been watched by millions online. The group released its debut recording English Motets on Hyperion in 2018 to critical acclaim. This was followed by Christmas, a festive album of seasonal favourites; Fading, a collection of Compline-themed music; Josquin’s legacy, exploring pedagogy and patronage at courts in Renaissance Italy; Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday, inspired by the darkness and shadows of Holy Week; Lux aeterna, which illustrates musical responses to grief; and Byrd’s Mass for five voices.

Owain Park
was born in Bristol in 1993. As well as directing The Gesualdo Six, he maintains a busy schedule of conducting projects with ensembles including the London Mozart Players, Southbank Sinfonia, the Academy of Ancient Music and Capella Cracoviensis. Owain is Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers and formerly Musical Director of Cambridge Chorale.

Owain’s compositions are published by Novello and have been performed internationally by ensembles including The Tallis Scholars and Aurora Orchestra. While at Cambridge University, he studied orchestration with John Rutter, before undertaking a master’s degree in composition. He is Composer-in-Residence for the London Choral Sinfonia, and was one of BBC Radio 3’s ‘31 under 31 Young Stars 2020’. An album of his compositions recorded by The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge was nominated for the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Awards. In 2020 the Epiphoni Consort released When Love speaks, an album of his secular choral works.

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 was a Tenebrae Associate Artist for two seasons, and has worked with ensembles such as The Sixteen, the Gabrieli Consort and Polyphony.

Booklet for Queen of Hearts: Laments and Songs of Regret for Queens Terrestrial and Celestial