The Nash Ensemble
The London-based Nash Ensemble is a chamber orchestra consisting of 11 regular members, though the number can vary widely according to works performed. The group's repertory is broad but favors modern works by English composers like Lennox Berkeley, Harrison Birtwistle, James MacMillan, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. It performs most of its subscription concerts at Wigmore Hall but also appears at other locations, including the Royal Festival Hall's Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Founded in 1964 by Amelia Freedman, its longtime artistic director, the Nash Ensemble took its name from the famous Nash terraces in London, designed by architect John Nash. The ensemble initially developed its reputation in Great Britain, only slowly gaining recognition abroad. Its first American tour took place in 1981, but the group remained little-known in the U.S. until the turn of the 21st century. In England, however, it became recognized for its artistic achievements throughout the 1980s and thereafter, both for concerts and recordings. An early recording came in 1976 as the group backed The King's Singers on an album of vocal pieces by John Tavener.
In 2010, the Nash Ensemble became the resident chamber ensemble of London's Wigmore Hall. It performs most of its subscription concerts there but also appears at other locations, including the Royal Festival Hall's Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall. By that time, it had given more than 300 premieres by more than 200 composers. The group's membership has evolved over its half-century of existence, but the revolving door has turned very slowly. In the early '80s, the Nash Ensemble began recording for the Hyperion label, and it has remained mostly associated with the label, although it soon began recording with other labels as well, including CRD (Hummel and Berwald septets; 1989), NMC (Turnage works; 1995), and BIS (various albums, including one of chamber works by Harrison Birtwistle; 2022). The Nash Ensemble has continued to record prolifically, with releases balanced between mainstream repertory and contemporary works in many styles and from many different countries.
The members of the group have displayed equal sympathy for, to name two composers it recorded in the mid-2010s, George Gershwin and Birtwistle; its recording of the latter's Moth Requiem, with baritone Roderick Williams and the BBC Singers, was hailed by Blair Sanderson as having "a haunting quality that invites closer study." Birtwistle recurred in the group's 2017-2018 season at Wigmore Hall, along with "French Connection" programs featuring French Romantic and Impressionist composers. In 2020, the Nash Ensemble was heard on a Hyperion album of music by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, as well as a BIS release of music by John Pickard. The group returned on Hyperion in 2022 with an album of chamber music by Beethoven's student, Ferdinand Ries, and in 2024 on a recording of sextets by Tchaikovsky and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
© James Manheim & Robert Cummings /TiVo
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Sir Malcolm Arnold: Chamber Music, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Aug. 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
James MacMillan: Raising Sparks; Piano Sonata
The Nash Ensemble, Jean Rigby, Martyn Brabbins, John York
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on Sep. 2, 2002
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Vaughan Williams: Songs for Tenor & Chamber Ensemble
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Classical - Released by Hyperion on Sep. 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Poetry Nearing Silence
The Nash Ensemble, Martyn Brabbins
Classical - Released by NMC Recordings on Oct. 25, 2019
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Matthews: The Great Journey, Fuga & Night's Mask
The Nash Ensemble, Lionel Friend
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by NMC Recordings on Jan. 1, 1996
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Warlock: The Curlew, Capriol, Serenade & Songs
John Mark Ainsley, The Nash Ensemble, Martyn Brabbins
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Oct. 1, 1997
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Recollections
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Chamber Music - Released by Divine Art on Jul. 10, 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dohnányi: String Quartet, Serenade & Sextet
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Jun. 1, 2018
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Beethoven: String Quintets, Op. 4 & Op. 29
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Dec. 12, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Classical - Released by Hyperion on Jul. 2, 2004
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Classical - Released by Hyperion on Jun. 9, 2015
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Beethoven: Piano Quartet, Op. 16; String Quintet, Op. 104 etc.
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Howard Ferguson: Octet, Bagatelles & Violin Sonata
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16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Classical - Released by Hyperion on Jul. 1, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Turnage: On All Fours, Lament for a Hanging Man, Sarabande & Release
The Nash Ensemble, Oliver Knussen, Mark Anthony Turnage
Classical - Released by NMC Recordings on Jan. 1, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
William Lloyd Webber: Piano Music, Chamber Music & Songs
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Aug. 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brundibár: Music by Composers in Theresienstadt
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Feb. 1, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo