Not only Belgians are nominated for prestigious international music awards, but there are also those who receive such a prestigious prize. 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 race for the Edison Klassiek Publieksprijs. You already read that on our website. But our very own Paul Van Nevel received his Gramophone Award on October 4. With his Huelgas Ensemble he was on the shortlist in the "Early Music" category of the renowned British music magazine for classical music, Gramophone. And that jury unanimously gave him the prize for his CD recording of the album released this year, featuring two polyphonic masses by the virtually forgotten composer Ludwig Daser (ca.1515-1589).
That British AWARD jury apparently rated the work of Huelgas higher than the Commission Arts Decree which no longer deemed him worthy of operating subsidies 2023-2027. Van Nevel was not "innovative" enough, the Huelgas received a poor rating and no funds.
"The assessment by the specialized international Gramophone jury stands in stark contrast to the amateurish and denigrating comments from the commission that wanted to take away our operating subsidies for the next five years" Van Nevel said. But fortunately this judgment could be corrected after some lobbying and there were still some funds to be found in the special pot of the prime minister.
Rightly so, if 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."