Simone de Bonefont - Missa pro Mortuis

In his constant search  for unpublished works and forgotten composers, Paul Van Nevel invites us  in this new album to discover a Requiem Mass for five voices composed  in 1556 by Simone de Bonefont, canon and cantor at Clermont-Ferrand  Cathedral.

This Missa pro mortuis can be considered as one of the high points of  polyphonic vocal writing, encompassing all the characteristics of  Franco-Flemish techniques at that time.

The richness of its polyphonic writing and its contrapuntal mastery  are quite simply unheard of. As usual, the Huelgas Ensemble serves this  new score in a masterly manner and delivers music of incredible luminous  tranquillity.

The programme is enriched by four compositions by Franco-Flemish  masters - which could have caught the ear of Simone de Bonefont - on one  of the most profound texts of the Gregorian repertoire: Media vita in  morte summus (In the midst of life we are in death).