O Nata Lux: Contemplative Christmas Classics Gentlemen Singers

• Anomymous:
• 1 Verbum Caro Factum Est 01:17
• 2 Gaudete (Arr. S. Hatfield) 02:26
• Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943): Lux Aeterna:
• 3 Lux Aeterna: No. 3, O Nata Lux 04:39
• Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643):
• 4 Magnificat II, SV 282 09:23
• Margaret Rizza (b. 1929):
• 5 O Sapientia 04:38
• John Tavener (1944 - 2013):
• 6 The Lamb 03:38
• Margaret Rizza:
• 7 O Clavis David 04:56
• Anomymous:
• 8 Beacon Hill Carol (Arr. S. Hatfield) 03:17
• Margaret Rizza:
• 9 O Oriens 04:22
• Rihards Dubra (b. 1964):
• 10 Hodie Christus Natus Est 01:16
• Anomymous:
• 11 Dejlig er jorden (Arr. B. Holten) 02:45
• 12 Nesem vám noviny (Arr. J. Vičar) 03:10
• Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934):
• 13 In the Bleak Midwinter, H. 73 No. 1 (Arr. J.H. Jennings) 05:15
• Anomymous:
• 14 Lulajże, Jezuniu (Arr. J. Kubín) 02:44
• William Byrd (1543 - 1623):
• 15 Lullaby, My Sweet Little Baby (Version for 5 Voices) 02:10
• Anomymous:
• 16 Maria durch ein Dornwald ging (Arr. P. Lawson) 03:46
• 17 Narodil se Kristus Pán (Arr. V. Popelka) 02:48
• Total Runtime 01:02:30

Info for O Nata Lux: Contemplative Christmas Classics

This album features music primarily related to the seasons of Advent and Christmas. It includes a number of recent commissions for the male vocal ensemble, Gentlemen Singers, and was recorded in their home town (Hradec Králové) in the Czech Republic.

The programme also includes fresh arrangements produced for the recording. The carols are performed their original languages.

Advent is the time of waiting for the Redeemer to come, the period when the liturgical year begins, a period that has inspired all artists for hundreds of years: poets, painters, musicians and composers, too. This four-week-long period of contemplation and charitableness has always been a symbol of purity and beauty and spiritual preparation for Christmas.

And such is the O Nata Lux recording, too. Its main idea was to combine traditional European Advent compositions (Monteverdi, Byrd) and Christmas carols with works by contemporary composers (Lauridsen, Tavener, Dubra). Three antiphons by Margaret Rizza that were recorded in global première make up the beginning of the album. It is in these exceptional pieces that you can hear our guest, the soprano singer Kamila Zbořilová. The Advent’s Great Antiphons, or “O Antiphons” as they are referred to as well, are sung during the last seven days of Advent in Western Christian traditions. Their poetry has theological contents, too, that draws us deeper into the Christmas secrets. ...

Gentlemen Singers
Filip Dámec, countertenor
Libor Komárek, tenor
Radek Mach, tenor
Filip Tesař, tenor
Aleš Malý, baritone
Martin Struna, baritone
Václav Kovář, bass
Richard Uhlíř, bass, artistic leader
Guest:
Kamila Zbořilová, soprano

Gentlemen Singers
from Hradec Králové is the only professional male octet in the Czech Republic. e ensemble has won several international competitions and is a frequent guest of prestigious festivals from the USA to South Korea.

The ensemble has given more than 600 concerts in twenty three countries on four continents and has released seven well-acclaimed CDs since its foundation in 2003. The members also organize the annual festival Sborové slavnosti • Czech Choir Festival • Hradec Králové. Its main goals are to promote a current choir scene and to spread Czech music outside the Czech Republic thanks to invited choirs from the whole world.

An integral part of Gentlemen Singers’ work consists of further education thanks to organizing various workshops and masterclasses focused on both individuals and choirs. The members of the ensemble capitalise their own experiences which have been gained by co-operations with experienced ensembles, conductors, choirmasters, and composers.

Vocal Ensemble Gentlemen Singers, whose activity is nancially supported by the City Council of Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové’s region and The Ministry of Culture, is a very proud ambassador of the Czech choir school.

This album contains no booklet.