Requiem - Organ works

World Premiere Recording The works of Pedro Rimonte were only saved from oblivion very recently; his compositorial grandeur and importance are now becoming evident to a broader public after almost four hundred years. His requiem mass and the sublime eight-part motet De Profundis have placed Rimonte masterfully in the great tradition of Spanish polyphony and passion music that produced such varied masterpieces as Victoria’s Lamentations and Haydn’s Sieben Letzte Worte over the centuries. The programme is embellished with works for organ by Rimonte’s friend and fellow citizen Sebastián Aguilera de Heredia. Both Spanish composers ‘honoured the other arts and this Kingdom with their efforts and their devotion’ (Blasco in his Historias Eclesiásticas, 1619/1622). La Hispanoflamenca(Madrid) specialises in 16th and 17th century polyphonic music from the Low Countries and the Iberian peninsula. A particular timbre is created by the blending of Spanish (warmer) voices with the more streamlined Northern voices that, according to artistic director Bart Vandewege, combines the qualities of a good Rioja and a matured Flemish jenever. Their first CD appeared in 2005 with the supposedly lost Lamentations of Pedro Rimonte (KTC 4009) and was greatly praised by the general public and the international press. Bart Vandewege works as singer, conductor and composer. He performs with Europe’s finest of Baroque ensembles, is often engaged as guest conductor and has made various CD recordings. Joris Verdin studied both organ and musicology. This combination is the reason for his preference of reviving forgotten music at the same time as he creates contemporary compositions. He has recorded several cds as a soloist, spanning many musical eras and styles. After various activities he now focuses on the organ and the harmonium and has become internationally reputed as a specialist. For Klara, Joris Verdin has recorded organ works by César Franck and Louis J. A. Lefébure-Wely.