News

We are delighted to announce the release of our new CD recording: MELANCHOLY - vocal works by Max Reger (1873-1916).

Once again Paul Van Nevel breaks new ground, this time breathing fresh life into the interpretation of non-Renaissance vocal repertoire. The CD is a tribute to the timeless melancholic intimacy of Max Reger’s vocal music. Several pieces are with piano accompaniment (played by Jos van Immerseel on an 1870 concert grand by Carl Bechstein from Jos’s private piano collection), adding a fragile décor - rather than a traditional piano accompaniment - and further enhancing the melancholic character of this highly expressive music.

If you are interested in purchasing an exclusive copy of the CD with a personal signature of Paul Van Nevel, please visit the WEB SHOP section of our website.

Our CD recording 'Ludwig Daser - Polyphonic Masses' has been nominated one of the best classical albums of 2023 by De Standaard.

You can find more information about the nomination in the REVIEWS section of our website.

On Thursday evening, the 4th of October, the prestigious Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2023 were presented in London.  The world-renowned music magazine Gramophone issues the awards each year for the best CD recordings of the year in the field of ‘classical’ music. The CDs are rigorously selected by the specialist music press.

This year there were hundreds of entries, and only 11 CDs received an award. In the ‘Early Music’ section, the Gramophone Award 2023 was unanimously awarded to the Huelgas Ensemble for its recording of this year's album of two polyphonic masses by Ludwig Daser (c.1515-1589), a quasi-forgotten composer.

An excerpt from the jury's assessment speaks volumes :

“… This is a rare case where composer and executants have unlocked each other in award-winning fashion. Over decades, Paul Van Nevel has had a remarkable capacity for persuading us that we are not looking hard enough. His Huelgas Ensemble always reminds us that choral polyphony is much more about how we react to an individual musical personality than about the reputation of the figure in question…”

A delegation from the Huelgas Ensemble, along with Sony Classical director Michael Brüggemann, accepted the award amid an ovation from the seven hundred-strong specialised audience.

You can find the complete Gramophone award article in the AWARDS section of our website.

And there is a nice photo of Paul Van Nevel holding the award in the GALLERY section of our website.

WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING

Our award-winning CD Ludwig Daser - Polyphonic Masses is a world premiere recording of two stunning Masses by the German polyphonist, Ludwig Daser (Munich 1525 - Stuttgart 1589) - Missa Preter rerum seriem and Missa Fors seulement - both recently unearthed by Paul Van Nevel. Would you like to follow the musical scores as you listen to this sublime polyphony? When you buy the recording, you will find a password concealed in the CD booklet, which will grant you access to a pdf file of the scores - Paul Van Nevel’s very own transcriptions, and the only modern editions in existence of these two Masses - via this link: CD Daser

Meanwhile, you can listen to a section of the Kyrie from Missa Preter rerum seriem by clicking on this link:https://dhm.lnk.to/HuelgasDaser

And you can find several favourable reviews of the recording in the REVIEWS section of our website.

We are delighted to announce that Huelgas has been awarded a CHOC de Classica for our CD recording ‘The landscape of the polyphonists’.

We are delighted to announce that Huelgas has been awarded the OPUS Klassik Ensemble of the Year award for our CD recording ‘En Albion’.  From a total of more than 100 nominated ensembles, Huelgas was chosen as the winner of this prestigious award.

The Alamire Foundation proudly presents: MISSE JOSQUIN, 12  docu-concerts on the Masses of Josquin des Prez, with brand new performances by top ensembles and the latest musicological research on each Mass. On March 29 and 30 2021 they were officially presented in Rome during a congress, concert, and the official handing over of the first copy to Pope Francis. 500 years of Josquin and 30 years of the Alamire Foundation won’t go unnoticed!

Huelgas is delighted to have taken part in this historic event. We hope you enjoy watching a short trailer in the films section of our website. The complete cycle of Masses can be viewed on www.alamire.tv

To celebrate 50 years of Huelgas, Paul Van Nevel has produced a wonderful book of photos that chart the history of the ensemble from 1971 to 2021 (texts in English, Dutch and French). 

If you would like to order a copy of the book (€15,- plus postage and packing), please fill in the form: click here

Happy browsing!

Klara and Radio 1 (Flemish radio) celebrated 50 years of the Huelgas Ensemble with several interviews with Paul Van Nevel. Please click on the following links to listen to the interviews:

Algemeen/programmaoverzicht Klara rond 50 jaar Huelgas Ensemble:

https://klara.be/zolang-het-niet-klinkt-het-geen-muziek

Maestro (vrijdag 15 oktober 2021):

https://klara.be/wil-jij-mee-de-50ste-verjaardag-van-het-huelgas-ensemble-vieren

Klara Live (zaterdag 16 oktober 2021):

https://klara.be/herbeluister-klara-live-huelgas-viert-50-jaar

Music Matters (11 tot en met 14 oktober 2021):

https://klara.be/de-sleutelplaten-van-paul-van-nevel

Radio 1:

http://outpost.vrt.be/privemp3/reportage_samenzang_081121102714.mp3

Why did the polyphonists all come from the same region of southwest Belgium and northern France? And what was the influence of this region on their music? 

A unique analysis of the environment - the ‘cultural landscape’ - of the 15th and 16th century musician. 

The book includes a CD and no fewer than 168 beautiful photographs.