For more than 50 years, Paul Van Nevel has coaxed well-kept secrets from historical sources. Now he will astonish us with polyphony by Christophoro Martino and Girolamo Lambardi, two composers active around 1600. Their music will be heard again at Laus Polyphoniae for the first time in almost 500 years, along with work by Huelgas favourites Cipriano de Rore, Vicente Lusitano and Francesco de Layolle. Each of the carefully selected three to six-part compositions is based on a Gregorian melody that pervades the piece as a cantus firmus: sometimes as an upper voice, at other times in the tenor or bass. Huelgas Ensemble leaves no stave unturned, deciphering the clever games in these unspoiled Renaissance gems.
Program
Antiphones and motets by C. Martino, C. de Rore, G. Lambardo, V. Lusitano, F. de Layolle
Performers
Malwine Nicolaus, Hannah Ely, Helen Cassano, Sabine Lutzenberger, cantus | Paul Bentley-Angell, Daniel Thomson, Ozan Karagöz, George Pooley, Tom Phillips, tenor | Hidde Kleikamp, baritone | Robert Macdonald, Andrés Soler Castaño, bass | Paul Van Nevel, artistic leader
