Huelgas Ensemble
Around 1200, Paris was a hotbed of intellectual, architectural, and musical innovation. While the cathedral, Notre-Dame, was still under scaffolding, an unprecedented musical revolution was unfolding beneath its vaults. Composers such as Leoninus and Perotinus experimented there with a daring innovation: polyphonic music, in which different voices followed their own independent paths. What caused a stir at the time marked the very beginnings of Western polyphony.
This flourishing cultural context also led to a major breakthrough in musical notation: for the first time, both pitch and rhythm were accurately recorded. The works that have survived from this period still impress with their richness of sound, inventiveness, and complex structure. Huelgas Ensemble explores this fascinating repertoire through organa, conducti, and motets – music that once filled immense cathedrals and still radiates an intense, spiritual power today.
Also live on www.emtv.online.
Programme
-
Anonymous
Acclamations ‘Laudes Regiae’ in honour of the French King Philippe August (1165-1223)
13th century -
Leoninus
Haec Dies
1150-c1201 -
Anonymous
O Maria maris stella (duplum) / O Maria dei cella (triplum) / O Maria virgo (quadruplum) / Veritate (tenor)
c1260 -
Anonymous
Crucifigat omnes
c1250 -
Perotinus
Viderunt omnes
fl. 1207-1238 -
Anonymous
Cum apertam sepulturam
c1290 -
Anonymous
Agnus Dei / Exultet hec concio
c1250 -
Anonymous
Belial vocatur
c1250 -
Anonymous
Homo miserabilis (duplum) / Homo luge fuge (triplum) / Brumans est mors (tenor)
c1280 -
Anonymous
Balaam de quo vaticinans
c1290 -
Anonymous / Perotinus
Benedicamus Domino
Programme subject to changec1230 / fl. c1200
Musicians
- Dorothea Jakob, Helen Cassano, Helen Hughson cantus
- Paul Bentley-Angell, Daniel Thomson, Loïc Paulin, Achim Schulz, Tom Philips tenor
- Hidde Kleikamp baritone
- Tim Scott Whiteley, Andrés Soler Castaño bassus
- Paul Van Nevel musical direction
