Not only are Belgians nominated for prestigious international music prizes, but there are also those who receive such a prestigious award. The first happened to Belgian pianist Tom Kristiaan. He is nominated for the Dutch music prize De Edison. With his album Petites danses et rêveries, he is the only Belgian artist in the running for the Edison Klassiek Publieksprijs. You already read that on our website. But our Paul Van Nevel received his Gramophone Award on October 4th. With his Huelgas Ensemble, he was on the shortlist in the "Early Music" category of the renowned British classical music magazine, Gramophone. And that jury unanimously gave him the prize for his CD recording of this year's released album, featuring two polyphonic masses by the quasi-forgotten composer Ludwig Daser (ca.1515-1589).
That British AWARD jury apparently rated Huelgas' work higher than the Arts Decree Commission, which no longer deemed it worthy of granting operational subsidies for 2023-2027. Van Nevel was not "innovative" enough; Huelgas received a poor assessment and no funding.
"The assessment by the specialized international Gramophone jury stands in sharp contrast to the amateurish and denigrating comments of the commission that wanted to take away our operational subsidies for the next five years," said Van Nevel. But fortunately, this decision could be corrected after some lobbying, and there were still some funds to be found in the prime minister's special fund.
Rightly so, when you read the Gramophone jury's assessment of Huelgas' Polyphonic Masses by the unknown Ludwig Daser. "Over decades, Paul Van Nevel has had a remarkable capacity for persuading us that we are not looking hard enough. His Huelgas Ensemble always reminds us that choral polyphony is much more about how we react to an individual musical personality than about the reputation of the figure in question. You realise that this is a rare case where composer and executants have unlocked each other in award-winning fashion."