Fretwork
The viol consort Fretwork has, through several cycles of changing membership, remained one of the world's top ensembles in its field. The group stands apart from other consorts of viols in its exploration of unusual repertories, playing, for example, music of Bach on viols and commissioning a good deal of contemporary music.
Fretwork was founded in London in 1985 by a sextet of viol players: Richard Boothby, Julia Hodgson, William Hunt, Wendy Gillespie, Richard Campbell, and Elizabeth Liddle. By 2022, only Boothby remained of the original group, by then trimmed to five players, but its sound and philosophy have been consistent. Fretwork immediately made an impression, and the group was invited to perform at London's Wigmore Hall in 1986. At first, both in concert and on recordings, Fretwork played the core viol repertory of the English Renaissance; the group's
first album, 1987's In Nomine, featured works by Byrd, Tallis, Purcell, and Lawes in the quintessentially English genre of the In Nomine. That album was issued by the Amon Ra label, but in 1989, Fretwork joined the roster of the Virgin label and have since recorded mostly for that imprint and for Harmonia Mundi. Almost from the beginning, the group attracted attention beyond Britain; Fretwork toured the Soviet Union before its breakup, Japan, and the U.S., and has been a common sight at European summer festivals.
In addition to viol consort music, Fretwork has recorded consort songs with various early music singers, including a noted group of William Byrd songs with Emma Kirkby. Around the late '90s, Fretwork began to expand its repertory beyond the Renaissance. The group has a particular specialty of music by Bach arranged for viol consort, including not only music for strings but also keyboard works and the open-score The Art of Fugue, BVW 1080. The group has commissioned numerous works by contemporary composers, including Tan Dun, Gavin Bryars, and the rock star Elvis Costello. Fretwork's music has been used in the films Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) and Broken Flowers (2005), both directed by Jim Jarmusch. The group has often toured in the U.S. with music the album Birds on Fire: Jewish Music for Viols, featuring music by Italian Jewish Baroque composers. By the early 2020s, the members of Fretwork were Boothby, Joanna Levine, Asako Morikawa, Sam Stadlen, and Emily Ashton. Fretwork has often published arrangements of the music it has played under the company name Fretwork Editions. The group signed with the Signum Classics label in 2017, and in 2019, it released the vocal album If with countertenor Iestyn Davis, performing music by Michael Nyman and Henry Purcell. In 2020, Fretwork was heard with other ensembles on the album In Chains of Gold: The English Pre-Restoration Verse Anthem, Vol. 2. Fretwork remained busy through the pandemic year of 2021, releasing three albums, Byrd 1588, Lamento, and An Elizabethan Christmas, joined on the latter by mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston. The group returned in 2022 with the album Matthew Locke: The Flat Consort.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discographie
80 album(s) • Trié par Meilleures ventes
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In Chains of Gold, Vol. 3
Magdalena Consort, Fretwork, William Hunt
Classique - Paru chez Signum Records le 28 févr. 2025
Disponible en24-Bit/192 kHz Stereo -
Byrd: Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets (1611)
Classique - Paru chez CORO le 7 oct. 2022
Gramophone: Recording of the MonthDisponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Byrd 1589
Fretwork, David Skinner, Alamire
Classique - Paru chez Inventa Records le 7 avr. 2023
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Buxtehude: Membra Jesu nostri
Purcell Quartet, Elin Manahan Thomas, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Peter Harvey, Fretwork
Classique - Paru chez Chandos le 1 nov. 2010
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Lupo: Fantasia
Musique de chambre - Paru chez Signum Records le 13 mai 2022
Diapason d'orDisponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Byrd 1588: Psalmes, Sonets & Songs of Sadnes and Pietie
Alamire, Fretwork, David Skinner
Classique - Paru chez Inventa Records le 2 avr. 2021
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
If: Michael Nyman, Henry Purcell
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez Signum Records le 22 mars 2019
Gramophone Editor's ChoiceDisponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
"In Chains of Gold", The English Pre-Restoration Verse Anthem, Volume 1: Orlando Gibbons, Complete Consort Anthems
Magdalena Consort, Fretwork, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Musique vocale sacrée - Paru chez Signum Records le 10 nov. 2017
5 de DiapasonDisponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
J. S. Bach - Wert/Praetorius
Classique - Paru chez AVIE Records le 16 juin 2023
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Matthew Locke: The Flat Consort
Fretwork, David Miller, Silas Wollston
Musique de chambre - Paru chez Signum Records le 14 janv. 2022
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Tom and Will
Classique - Paru chez Signum Records le 13 janv. 2023
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
John Jenkins : Complete Four-Part Consort Music
Musique de chambre - Paru chez Signum Records le 2 mars 2018
5 de DiapasonDisponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
An Elizabethan Christmas
Musique de chambre - Paru chez Signum Records le 3 sept. 2021
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
In Chains of Gold, Vol. 2
Fretwork, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, Magdalena Consort
Classique - Paru chez Signum Records le 26 juin 2020
Disponible en24-Bit/192 kHz Stereo -
Lamento
Musique de chambre - Paru chez Signum Records le 27 août 2021
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Matthew Locke: The Little Consort
Musique de chambre - Paru chez Signum Records le 11 nov. 2022
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Praise Our Lord All Ye Gentiles
Classique - Paru chez Signum Records le 30 nov. 2022
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Evening Hymn, Z.193 (arr. Silas Wolston)
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez Signum Records le 15 févr. 2019
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
The Diary of Anne Frank (arr. Richard Boothby): If
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez Signum Records le 1 févr. 2019
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Hear my Prayer, O Lord
Fretwork, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, Magdalena Consort
Classique - Paru chez Signum Records le 13 mai 2020
Disponible en24-Bit/192 kHz Stereo -
John Amner: Complete Consort Music
Fretwork, Dublin Consort Singers, Mark Keane
Classique - Paru chez Rubicon le 24 mai 2019
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo