Collegium Vocale Gent
Collegium Vocale Gent (or Ghent) was among the earliest groups of the historical-performance practice trend to apply Baroque performance treatments to vocal music. The best-known and most successful of several ensembles named "Collegium Vocale," the group from Ghent is noted for its readings of music from the Baroque and Renaissance. However, the Collegium's repertoire stretches forward through the Classical and Romantic periods and even into new music. Under the direction of founder and artistic director Philippe Herreweghe, the Collegium has issued more than 100 albums and has collaborated with many leading modern- and historical-performance ensembles. The group celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020 with a box set collection and issued a recording of Monteverdi's Fourth Book of Madrigals in 2022.
Collegium Vocale was founded in 1970 by Herreweghe and several classmates while attending the University of Ghent. A scholar of Baroque performance practices, Herreweghe initiated the ensemble to apply methods that were being used by instrumental ensembles in the growing historical-instrument movement to vocal music. Collegium Vocale is a flexible ensemble that has its own accompanying orchestra when needed, depending on the music being performed. The music of the German Baroque, especially Bach, has been a specialty of the ensemble from its early days, but its flexibility allows for the performance of music from the Renaissance (Gesualdo, Monteverdi), Classical (Mozart, Haydn), Romantic (Beethoven, Brahms), and even as far forward as Stravinsky and oratorios by contemporary composers.
Herreweghe's approach to performance with Collegium Vocale was noticed early on by such luminaries as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt, and Ton Koopman. The Collegium was joined by Koopman and his Musica Antiqua of Amsterdam for its debut recording in 1976, taking in Monteverdi's Selva morale e spirituale on the Telefunken label's Das Alte Werk imprint. Following its continued success, Collegium Vocale was invited by Harnoncourt and Leonhardt to perform on their complete recordings of Bach's cantatas. The Collegium continues to frequently appear with original-instrument groups, including the Freiburger Barockorchester and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, as well as modern-instrument ensembles such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
In 1993, the Collegium and Herreweghe were appointed Cultural Ambassadors of Flanders. Its touring activities have taken it to Asia, Australia, and the Americas, as well as throughout Europe. Collegium Vocale has recorded widely on such labels as Harmonia Mundi, Virgin, and Ricercar, among others. Herreweghe founded the Phi label in 2010, where most of the group's music is now issued. From 2011 to 2013, the Collegium was an Ambassador of the European Union, and since 2017, it has hosted Collegium Vocale Crete Senesi, a summer festival in Tuscany. The group has continued recording prolifically, issuing multiple albums most years. In 2020, the Collegium released a collection of recordings made on Phi in the 2010s to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Following several releases in 2021, including Carlo Gesualdo: Dolcissima mia vita, the Collegium Vocale issued Monteverdi: Anima dolorosa and a 10-disc set of sacred choral works by Bach in 2022.
© Keith Finke /TiVo
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Bach: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80 (Remastered)
Philippe Herreweghe, La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Gent
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 1 Aug 1990
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Secular Cantatas (Remastered)
Philippe Herreweghe, La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Gent
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 1 Sep 2005
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gesualdo: Dolcissima mia vita. Madrigali a cinque voci, Libro quinto (1611)
Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe
Classical - Released by Phi on 24 Sep 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony 4, Alt-Rhapsodie, Schicksalslied
Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent, Ann Hallenberg
Classical - Released by Phi on 24 Feb 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Concerto For Orchestra, BB 123, Sz.116 / Dvorák: Symphony No.8 in G Major, Op.88, B.163 / Debussy: Nocturnes, L. 91 / Haydn: Symphony No.44 in E Minor, Hob.I:44 -"Mourning"
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Collegium Vocale Gent
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 8 Jun 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Cantates profanes
Mark Padmore, Carolyn Sampson, Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe
Cantatas (secular) - Released by harmonia mundi on 1 Sep 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi: Vespro della beata Vergine
Collegium Vocale Gent, La Chapelle Royale, Les Sacqueboutiers De Toulouse, Philippe Herreweghe
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 6 Nov 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Motetten & Kantaten der Bach Familie
Collegium Vocale Gent, Capella Sancti Michaëlis, Ricercar Consort
Classical - Released by Ricercar on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orfeo ed Euridice (Intégrale)
Marjanne Kweksilber, René Jacobs, Magdalena Falewicz, Collegium Vocale Gent, Petite Bande, La, Sigiswald Kuijken
Opera - Released by Accent on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Deutsche Kantaten
Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 31 Jul 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Pellegrina: Intermedii 1589
Capriccio Stravagante Renaissance Orchestra, Skip Sempé, Collegium Vocale Gent
Classical - Released by Paradizo on 26 Sep 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No.9 in D Minor
Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent, La Chapelle Royale
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius, Symphony No. 1
Michelle Breedt, Peter Auty, John Hancock, Collegium Vocale Gent, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Edo de Waart
Classical - Released by PentaTone on 23 Sep 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gubaidulina: The Canticle of the Sun, Preludes for Violoncello Solo & In Croce
Pieter Wispelwey, Collegium Vocale Gent, Daniel Reuss
Classical - Released by Channel Classics on 14 Sep 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Charles Ives: Fourth Symphony (Live)
John Adams, Ensemble Modern Orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent
Classical - Released by Ensemble Modern Medien on 25 Sep 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jean Gilles: Messe des Morts - Rameau's Funeral, Paris, 27. IX. 1764
Capriccio Stravagante Les 24 Violons, Skip Sempé, Collegium Vocale Gent
Classical - Released by Paradizo on 8 Sep 2014
4F de TéléramaChoc de Classica24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
en nergens Bach
Collegium Vocale Gent, Prometheus Ensemble, Daniel Reuss
Classical - Released by Donemus Composers' Voice on 9 Dec 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Monumentum & Mass
Philippe Herreweghe, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Collegium Vocale Gent
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by PENTATONE on 1 Apr 2010
Prise de Son d'Exception24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Concerto For Orchestra, BB 123, Sz.116 / Dvorák: Symphony No.8 in G Major, Op.88, B.163 / Debussy: Nocturnes, L. 91 / Haydn: Symphony No.44 in E Minor, Hob.I:44 -"Mourning"
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Collegium Vocale Gent
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 8 Jun 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Le martyre de Saint Sébastien, L. 124
Sylvain Cambreling, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Collegium Vocale Gent, Dorte Lyssewski
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 18 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo