Simone de Bonefont: Missa pro Mortuis Huelgas Ensemble & Paul Van Nevel

• Simone de Bonefont: Missa pro mortuis:
• 1 Missa pro mortuis: Introitus: Requiem æternam (Live Recording) 06:11
• 2 Missa pro mortuis: Kyrie (Live Recording) 02:10
• 3 Missa pro mortuis: Graduale: Si ambulem (Live Recording) 05:14
• 4 Missa pro mortuis: Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe (Live Recording) 09:23
• 5 Missa pro mortuis: Sanctus (Live Recording) 04:10
• 6 Missa pro mortuis: Agnus Dei (Live Recording) 05:17
• 7 Missa pro mortuis: Communio: Lux æterna (Live Recording) 03:20
• Arnold von Bruck (1550 - 1554):
• 8 Mitten wir im Leben sind (By Arnold von Bruck) (Live Recording) 04:55
• Jacobus de Kerle (1531 - 1591):
• 9 Media vita in morte sumus (By Jacobus de Kerle) (Live Recording) 05:46
• Orlandus Lassus (1532 - 1594):
• 10 Media vita in morte sumus (By Orlandus Lassus) (Live Recording) 05:25
• Nicolas Gombert (1495 - 1560):
• 11 Media vita in morte sumus (By Nicolas Gombert) (Live Recording) 06:23
• Total Runtime 58:14

Info for Simone de Bonefont: Missa pro Mortuis

In perpetual search of unpublished works and forgotten composers, Paul Van Nevel invites us to discover a Requiem Mass for five voices, composed in 1556 by Simone de Bonefont, canon and cantor at Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral. The Missa pro mortuis can be considered as one of the highlights of polyphonic vocal style, encompassing all the characteristics of Franco-Flemish techniques of the period. The richness of de Bonefont’s polyphonic writing and his mastery of counterpoint are truly astonishing. True to form, the Huelgas Ensemble honours this unpublished score with a powerful interpretation, delivering music of incredible luminous tranquility. The programme also includes four compositions by Franco-Flemish masters - that de Bonefont may well have heard - on one of the most profound texts of the Gregorian repertoire: Media vita in morte summus (In the midst of life we are in death).

Huelgas Ensemble
Paul Van Nevel, conductor

Huelgas Ensemble
For over fifty years, the Huelgas Ensemble has been one of the most acclaimed ensembles specialising in the performance of polyphonic music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The ensemble is internationally renowned for its innovative programming, often featuring lesser-known works. The perspectives employed by the ensemble and its pitch precision consistently astonish audiences.

The historically informed interpretations of the Huelgas Ensemble are shaped by a profound understanding of the aesthetic principles of music and vocal practices from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Voices in the press and media repeatedly praise the ensemble's spontaneous vitality and extraordinary clarity in delivering its repertoire, consistently setting new standards. It is precisely these musical qualities that lead more and more contemporary composers to invite the Huelgas Ensemble to perform their works (including Wolfgang Rihm and James MacMillan).

The Huelgas Ensemble performs in internationally renowned venues, including the Lincoln Center (New York), Cité de la Musique (Paris), Berliner Philharmonie, Royal Albert Hall (BBC Proms, London), Wiener Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon), Filharmonia Narodowa (Warsaw), BOZAR (Brussels), AMUZ (Antwerp), and Concertgebouw Bruges. The ensemble is also regularly featured at significant early music festivals, where it often performs in its 'natural environment' of centuries-old chapels, churches, and monasteries. In this way, it builds an interdisciplinary bridge between polyphonic music and architecture. ​

In 2019, the Huelgas Ensemble organized its very own 'Pentecost Festival' for the first time; an international festival held in the picturesque Burgundian village of Talant, near Dijon. The ensemble found an ideal platform for musical experiments, performances of entirely unknown outstanding repertoire, new concert forms and variations in concert setup, and musical interaction with the audience. The fact that the event is dedicated to a single ensemble is a new concept in the festival world.

The discography of the Huelgas Ensemble includes over one hundred and twenty recordings of vocal and instrumental works from the 12th to the early 17th century. It features works by Dufay, Brumel, de Rore, Richafort, de Kerle, Ferrabosco, Palestrina, Lassus, and Ashewell, among others. The ensemble has recorded for Seon, Sony Classical, Harmonia Mundi France, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Cypres, and ECM. Recent discography includes The Eton Choirbook, The Treasures of Claude Le Jeune, Le mystère de ‘Malheur me bat', L’héritage de Petrus Alamire, The Ear of Zurbáran, Firminus Caron : Twilight of the Middle Ages, The Mirror of Claudio Monteverdi, The Ear of the Huguenots, ET LUX by German composer Wolfgang Rihm for eight voices and string quartet, La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina by Francesca Caccini (the first recording of the opera with reconstructed instrumental dances), The Music Prints of Christophe Plantin, The Ear of Theodoor van Loon, The Ear of Christopher Columbus, Simone de Bonefont : Missa pro mortuis, The Magic of Polyphony (3CD box-set, live recording of Pentecost Festival 2019), En Albion (polyphony from 14th century England), The Landscape of the Polyphonists, and Ludwig Daser: Polyphonic Masses. ​

In addition, the ensemble has made numerous radio recordings of concerts broadcast worldwide, as well as film recordings, including complete film productions, concert livestreams, documentaries, interviews, concert introductions by artistic director Paul Van Nevel, and experimental recordings in collaboration with video artists.

Paul Van Nevel and his ensemble have received numerous awards, including several Caecilia prizes from the Belgian music press, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Edison Classical Music Award, Cannes Classical Award for Early Music, Prix in Honorem from the Académie Charles Cros, Carrièreprijs from VRT Klara, a prize from the European Radio Union and the Canadian Radio, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, German ECHO Klassik (prizes in 1994, 1997, 2010, and 2011), several Diapason d'Or for various recordings, Diapason d'Or de l'année 2014, and Diapason d'Or de l'année 2015. More recent awards include Choc du mois from the magazine Classica in February 2017, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (Bestenliste 1/2017) for the CD recording The Mirror of Claudio Monteverdi, and OPUS KLASSIK 2019, the opera recording of the year award (opera up to the 18th century) for the CD recording Francesca Caccini: La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina. In October 2022, the ensemble received a Choc d’or from the magazine Classica for the CD recording The Landscape of the Polyphonists, and the OPUS KLASSIK (Berlin) as the Ensemble of the year 2022 for the CD recording En Albion. Lastly, in October 2023, the ensemble received the prestigious Gramophone Award in the Early Music section for the CD recording Ludwig Daser: Polyphonic Masses.

This album contains no booklet.