2004-2006 the years of adventures and consolidation
2004
2004 Elitair maar populair (Elitist but popular) | Niederländer (Dutchmen) | Le goût français (French taste) | Purcell
A.k.a. “Music for snobs” or “Edel und Mädel”. This “new” program, initially developed to be premiered in the Traces of Voices Festival in Tilburg was in fact a conglomerate of ingredients from earlier programs; a bit of Susato, a bit of Ronsard, some Gheerkin and some Gallus. Nevertheless Elitair maar populair was performed with success in fancy venues such as: the Dubrovnik Festival, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Bad Arolsen Festival. In the latter we sang also a second program: Niederländer, which was in fact build with pieces coming from our very first secular program, Het Paradijs combined with compositions written for us by Daan Manneke.
More important and exiting was that in the Traces of Voices festival we presented also two new works, written by Brabant composers: Marianne by Ruud van Eeten and I-I-E by Bruno Nelissen, both written on Paul Celan poems, and both written for the combination Prinse (string) Kwartet & Egidius Kwartet.
In the summer of 2004 we made another 'recycling-program' in Itinéraire Baroque, the festival of Ton Koopman in Dordogne (F). In september the quartet sang A birthday ode for Queen Mary by Henry Purcell in colaboration with The Northern Consort. This program was repeated in Bad Arolsen the following year, 2005, under the title "All the pleasures that delight".
A.k.a. “Music for snobs” or “Edel und Mädel”. This “new” program, initially developed to be premiered in the Traces of Voices Festival in Tilburg was in fact a conglomerate of ingredients from earlier programs; a bit of Susato, a bit of Ronsard, some Gheerkin and some Gallus. Nevertheless Elitair maar populair was performed with success in fancy venues such as: the Dubrovnik Festival, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Bad Arolsen Festival. In the latter we sang also a second program: Niederländer, which was in fact build with pieces coming from our very first secular program, Het Paradijs combined with compositions written for us by Daan Manneke.
More important and exiting was that in the Traces of Voices festival we presented also two new works, written by Brabant composers: Marianne by Ruud van Eeten and I-I-E by Bruno Nelissen, both written on Paul Celan poems, and both written for the combination Prinse (string) Kwartet & Egidius Kwartet.
In the summer of 2004 we made another 'recycling-program' in Itinéraire Baroque, the festival of Ton Koopman in Dordogne (F). In september the quartet sang A birthday ode for Queen Mary by Henry Purcell in colaboration with The Northern Consort. This program was repeated in Bad Arolsen the following year, 2005, under the title "All the pleasures that delight".
Egidius & Northern Consort in Bad Arolsen
CD 7: Fortune hélas... , thomas crecquillon: chansons
In April 2003. Jaap van Benthem introduced me to the American musicologist Laura Youens at the ‘Beyond contemporary fame’ conference held at the University of Utrecht. The subjects of this conference were: biographical aspects of the poorly documented lives of Crecquillon and Clemens non Papa, the influence and long-lasting presence of their music in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century sources, the relationship between text and music, source studies, instrumental music and musical analysis. Her paper was ‘on editing the chansons of Thomas Crecquillon’, referring to the magnificent work she, Barton Hudson and Mary Beth Winn were about to fulfill for the illustrious CMM series. Coincidently at that time I was just busy to make a program on Crecquillon, the chapelmaster of Charles V. We became friends instantly. She provided me lots of material, and all the transcriptions I needed, even when the were not even published.
Early May Egidius went to Lille to work on the Crecquillons songs with master Paul Van Nevel. Later that month we recorded the CD. We were blessed and honoured with special subsidies from Laura Youens’ university, the George Washington University, Washington DC and even from The American Institute of Musicology, the institute responsible for the CMM editions. Laura also wrote the excellent and extensive liner notes for the booklet and invited us to the USA to perform the program. Recording: May and September 2004 Laurentius Church Mijnsheerenland Producer: Ivar Munk, engineer: Tom Dunnebier, Production: Paul Janse. Egidius Kwartet + Maria Luz Alvarez Egidius Consort: Saskia Coolen -recorder and viol, Johannes Boer -viol, Susanne Braumann -discant viol, Antoinette Lohman -discant viol and viola da braccia This CD is still available via THIS LINK |
Laura Youens
Maître Paul Van Nevel in Lille
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Tom Dunnebier & Ivar Munk
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2004 Fortune hélas. Concert tour
The release of the Crecquillon CD coincided perfectly with a series of 5 concerts in the Dutch Network for Early Music. The songs were combined with parts from the 7th Canto of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (an epic poem very much appreciated by Charles V), thus giving an idea of his rich, and vivid, be it sometimes a bit naughty, court culture. |
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cd 8: antwerps liedboek (antwerp songbook)
Louis Grijp, artistic leader of our friends and colleagues of Camerata Trajectina asked us to participate in the recording of the Antwerp Songbook, together with a host of other musicians.
The Antwerp songbook (Dutch: Antwerps liedboek and on the cover Een schoon liedekens Boeck inden welcken ghy in vinden sult veelderhande liedekens (a nice songbook in which you will find several songs) was published in Antwerp in 1544. The songbook includes lyrics of some 221 'old' and 'new' Dutch songs (Oude en nyeuwe) to banish sadness and melancholy (Om droefheyt ende melancolie te verdrijven), with reference to the tune to which it was sung. The quartet made a prominent contribution to this highly interesting and important double CD. The CD was an add to a two volume Lannoo edition on the Antwerp Songbook. On the 18th november 2004 book(s) and cd(s) were presented in the Sweelinck Hall of the University of Utrecht. The CD was rewarded with the Edison Music Award in 2006. Recorded in the church of Bunnik, June 2004, Production en editing: Erik Beijer, engineer: Ton Dunnebier, Organisation: Tamar Brüggemann |
Edison Music Award
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with Louis Grijp in Bunnik (recordings)
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2005
cd 9: Egidius zingt egidius (egidius sings egidius)
It was thanks to an initiative and the perseverance of Huib Ramaer that the Egidius zingt Egidius program, already conceived in 1999 and recorded in 2001, finally appeared in the form of a nicely designed CD. It was made and distributed by Huib’s own label at that time; SOL Records. (Not to be confused with the actual SOL Records.de which is a label for underground black metal bands).
The record contains : The original song from the Gruuthuse Mansuscript (see this page), two song by Maître Egidius, The Egidius poem set to music by Henk Badings, Ton de Leeuw, Daan Manneke, Bart Visman, Walter Hus and Jetse Bremer, a song cycle written for Egidius by Joop Voorn, an a cappella version of Marie, originally written for Egidius & Brisk by Caliope Tsoupaki, and some compositions of the bass of the quartet, Donald Bentvelsen: Egidius and his song cycle Quatre Poèmes de Ossip Zadkine.
Recorded 2-5 jJuly NH Kerk Voorst
Producer Michael Fields, engineer: Bert van Dijk, remastering: Tom Dunnebier
Booklet: graphic design: Britt Möricke, Illustrations: Serge Scheepers
The record contains : The original song from the Gruuthuse Mansuscript (see this page), two song by Maître Egidius, The Egidius poem set to music by Henk Badings, Ton de Leeuw, Daan Manneke, Bart Visman, Walter Hus and Jetse Bremer, a song cycle written for Egidius by Joop Voorn, an a cappella version of Marie, originally written for Egidius & Brisk by Caliope Tsoupaki, and some compositions of the bass of the quartet, Donald Bentvelsen: Egidius and his song cycle Quatre Poèmes de Ossip Zadkine.
Recorded 2-5 jJuly NH Kerk Voorst
Producer Michael Fields, engineer: Bert van Dijk, remastering: Tom Dunnebier
Booklet: graphic design: Britt Möricke, Illustrations: Serge Scheepers
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2005 El LLibre Vermell
Cobla Principal d’Amsterdam, the only sardana-orchestra outside of Catalunya, invited Egidius to join them in a big project dedicated to the famous collection of devotional sngs in the LLibre Vermell, a 14th century mansuscript compiled and still located at the Monastery of Montserrat, near Barcelona. The program was a mixed-media-event; orchestra, vocals, dance and images. Beginning of 2005 we toured Holland (6 concerts, among them one in the just opened Muziek Gebouw aan het IJ, Amsterdam), in the summer of that year we sang our Llibre Vermell version in the place of its origin: Montserrat. Arrangements: David Dramm and Oliver Boekhoorn, Dance: Roxani Karantzounis, Mariette Piepers, Arno Tolmeijer, Dominike Karantzounis Musical direction ; Stephan Pas, Choreographer: Hans Minnaert |
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Concert in the Monasterio de Montserrat
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CD 10: EL LLIBRE VERMELL
On the last day of our Duch LLibre Vermell tour we recorded the CD in Theater aan de Vest in Almaar, just before the concert the very same evening, on the opposite side of the road: Grote- of St. Laurenskerk. An almost live-recording made by Hessel Veldman.
Recording 12 february 2005
Artistic advisor Rolf van kreveld
Editing Hessel Veldman, Stephan Pas & Joris Vermeulen
Booklet liner notes: Jan Nuchelmans
Listen here to : Stella splendens and Cuncti simus concanentes
Recording 12 february 2005
Artistic advisor Rolf van kreveld
Editing Hessel Veldman, Stephan Pas & Joris Vermeulen
Booklet liner notes: Jan Nuchelmans
Listen here to : Stella splendens and Cuncti simus concanentes
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2005 Just one more world, a Renaissance of the madrigal.
Cypriano de Rore & Bart Visman The Dutch composer Bart Visman had already written “O Avontuere” for the quartet, having the same fondness for combining word tone painting with rich harmonies as his colleagues 450 years earlier. Both the quartet and Visman dreamt of a contemporary madrigal cycle: and so Just one more world was born, based on the poetry cycle by the bilingual Dutch poet and biologist Leo Vromans. That cycle was written in 1976 around his scientific blood cell photos, which were projected on a large screen in the concerts. Vismans new composition was combined with the madrigals by Cypriano De Rore, reckoned to be among the top of their kind, characterised by extensive chromatic experimentation and exceptionally expressive word tone painting. The quartet also asked Visman to write an extra voice part to one of De Rore’s existing madrigals For this project the quartet was proud to be in the esteemed company of Claron McFadden. |
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2005 De ontdekking van de wereld (The discovery of the world)
In this program the voyage from early to late renaissance, from theocratic art to a humanistic approach, from Ockeghem via Josquin to Orlando di Lasso. It was programmed in Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Utrecht Vredenburg and Maastricht Theater aan het Vrijthof. Huib Ramaer presented it. |
Huib Ramaer
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In the summer of 2005 Egidius premiered two occasional programs, one on Josquin des Prez and one for the Festival of Simiane-la-Rotonde (F): Un besitaire polyphonique. In the Josquin program Robert Coupe sang tenor, and in Simiane Susan Jonkers made her debut as the new additional soprano to the quartet.
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Susan Jonkers
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CD 11: O Seligkeit! Franz Schubert, Partsongs
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Four years after its recording our Schubert CD was released. We shall always remember the particular circumstances in which this CD was recorded. On the 11th of September 2001, during a break, we saw in a local café the images of the attack on the World Trade Towers. But we had to go on. It felt strange, awkward and inappropriate to record the most sweet and idyllic song of the CD (Liebe) with those horrible images in mind.
Recording September 2001 Renswoude, Church Producer Koen Uvin, engineer Bert van Dijk, remastering: Ton Dunnebier Egidius Kwartet + johannette Zomer (soprano) and Michiel ten Houte de Lange Igor Roukhadze (violon, Arthur Schoonderwoerd (fortepiano) |
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CD 12: Gheerkin de hondt, a portrait
In November 2005 we could present our Gheerkin de Hondt CD (concert program made in 2003) in the Cathedral of Den Bosch followed a reception in the Fraternity House. Central figure during these festivities was, of course, Véronique Roelvink (“Mrs. De Hondt”), thanks to whom al this beautiful music was made known again to the world. The CD presentation coincided with our 2 lustrum, which we celebrated the following day in our own series in Rotterdam. A remarkable recognition of our work was the unexpected presence of maître Paul Van Nevel, who came especially from Lille to Rotterdam in order to witness the revival of Gheerkin de Hondt. In his own words: “When fine musicians as you guys present the work of Gheerkin, for the first time since his death, one should be obliged to be attain that event. So here I am. Bravo!”
Recording session
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Tableau de la troupe de Gheerkin
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Applaus for Véronique Roelvink in St. Johns
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Paul Van Nevel paying hommage to Gheerkinsingers
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