Lamentations de la Renaissance : Nevel / Huelgas Ensemble

harmonia mundi celebrates 50 years with hmGold

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the oldest independent record company in the world, harmonia mundi has dipped deep into its back catalogue to bring you the first instalment of hmGold, which forms part of our April release.
Full details of the first 15 recordings in this beautifully-packaged mid-price series can be found by scrolling down the list of new releases and you will soon be able to hear and read reviews of these fine recordings on Classic FM, BBC Music Magazine, International Record Review, Classic FM Magazine and Gramophone.
( harmonia mundi FRANCE )

Lamentations of the Renaissance

Huelgas-Ensemble
Paul Van Nevel, conductor

Digital Recording: 04/1997

The Tenebrae in music.
The heartrending words of the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah have at all times inspired a multitude of musical settings imprinted with a characteristic mixture of pain and hope.
It would be wrong to imagine that these famous biblical poems written after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 A.D., with rhythmic verse after verse beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, were exclusive specialities of the Baroque period.
Renaissance composers did not have to wait for the 17th French century Lecons de Tenebres before consecrating all their art to these Lamentations - an art marked by an extraordinary personal involvement. ( harmonia mundi FRANCE )