Claude Le Jeune’s contemporaries considered him a rightful heir to Orlandus Lassus. But he was no lacklustre follower. As a devout Huguenot, Le Jeune gave the psalms a distinct voice, with rhythmic sharpness and surprising chromaticism, driven by the cadence of the French language. Le Jeune’s polyphony sounds both cautious and rebellious: a polyphony that is aware of the changing times and thus finds itself stretched almost to breaking point. Huelgas Ensemble – the international benchmark for this repertoire for more than half a century – pleads the case for this underestimated composer. The singers perform Le Jeune’s psalms with analytical sharpness and expressive freedom, all in the service of the man who pushed polyphonic Europe towards the future.
Program
C. Le Jeune: Psalm Motets
Performers
Maria Valdmaa, Malwine Nicolaus, Helen Cassano, Helen Hughson, cantus | Paul Bentley-Angell, Achim Schulz, Loïc Paulin, Daniel Thomson, tenor | Hidde Kleikamp, baritone | Tim Scott Whiteley, Andrés Soler Castaño, bassus | Paul Van Nevel, artistic director