Gramophone Awards 2023
Finalist - Early Music

Huelgas-Ensemble (early music ensemble)
Paul Van Nevel

Daser: Missa Preter rerum seriem à 6
Daser: Missa Fors seullement à 4

This recording is dedicated to German Renaissance composer Ludwig Daser. Paul Van Nevel and the Huelgas Ensemble have recorded two polyphonic masses by the Munich-born composer, who was a contemporary of famous composers such as Orlando di Lasso and Cipriano di Rore. Ludwig Daser came from a wealthy Munich family. His composition teacher was to be the then famous Ludwig Senfl. Thanks to his compositional talent, Daser was promoted to Kapellmeister in 1552 - a post he held until 1562 (he was to be succeeded by none other than Orlando di Lasso). In 1572 Daser was then appointed Kapellmeister at the Stuttgart court of Duke Ludwig von Württemberg. A post he held until his death in 1589. Paul Van Nevel presents two masterpieces from Daser's rich Munich church music output with the Huelgas Ensemble. Van Nevel has selected the monumental "Missa Praeter rerum seriem". It survives in a Munich choir book written between 1544 and 1555. The "Missa Praeter rerum seriem" is a so-called "parody mass". The model from which Daser was inspired is the six-part motet of the same name by the great Franco-Flemish composer Josquin Desprez. The second work, Daser's four-part "Missa Fors seulement", is of a completely different nature, it is an impressive example of the special characteristics of Franco-Flemish vocal music, which Daser had become acquainted with through Ludwig Senfl.

"The Huelgas Ensemble use two or more voices per part in accordance with the size of Daser’s own court chapel choir and this larger ensemble creates a rich, wellbalanced sound which at times I found attractively wistful...I’m already looking forward to the next volume." - Gramophone Magazine, May 2023.