Richard Boothby
Veteran viol player Richard Boothby, in addition to performing Baroque music, has worked to expand the contemporary repertory for his instruments. He is a longtime member of the Fretwork ensemble.
Boothby grew up in South Wales, where his parents owned a recording of Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, Op. 60. His school offered free instrumental tuition for students, and at 11, he was given the choice of a violin, a clarinet, or a cello. He wanted to play the oboe and confused the cello with the oboe but was too embarrassed to say anything. However, he kept on with the cello. Boothby attended Manchester University, studying musicology. He wrote an undergraduate thesis on the tonality of Wagner's Ring Cycle, and musicologist David Fallows handed him a tenor viol to demonstrate a point. Boothby became fascinated by the instrument and went on for lessons with Charles Medlam in London and then, in 1980 and 1981, at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, with early music pioneer Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Returning to Britain, Boothby launched a freelance career while working at the Early Music Shop in London. As his performing career grew, he dropped the side hustle.
In 1984, Boothby founded the Purcell Quartet and then Fretwork in 1985. Both groups flourished, and Fretwork remained active, with Boothby as the sole original member as of the mid-2020s. He recorded almost 50 albums with the Purcell Quartet and more than 40 and counting with Fretwork. With the latter group especially, Boothby has taken a major role in commissioning new music for the viol consort. Composers the group performed include Elvis Costello, Alexander Goehr, Nico Muhly, and George Benjamin. Boothby has also performed and recorded solo on viols unusually frequently. He has transcribed major works of Bach for viol, and in 2016, he joined viola da gamba player Christophe Coin for a program of French and English repertory for two viols, and that year, he released a recording of the complete music for lyra viol of William Lawes on the Harmonia Mundi label. Boothby is also often heard in duo sonata repertory with the harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. In 2018, he moved to Signum Classics for a recording of Telemann fantasias, and he returned in 2023 with the album Music to Hear...: Alfonso Ferrabosco, Music for Lyra Viol from 1609.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
10 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Music to Hear... Alfonso Ferrabosco: Music for Lyra Viol from 1609
Richard Boothby, Asako Morikawa
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 2 Jun 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Lawes: Complete Music for Solo Lyra Viol
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 10 Jun 2016
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Lessons for 1, 2 & 3 Viols: Prelude 2 (Page 34)
Richard Boothby, Asako Morikawa
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 19 Apr 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Lessons for 1, 2 & 3 Viols: Coranto II* (Page 31) (Radio Edit)
Richard Boothby, Asako Morikawa
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 4 May 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Telemann: Twelve Fantasias for Solo Viola da Gamba
Chamber Music - Released by Signum Records on 6 Jul 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Aug 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Medieval Collection, Vol. 2: Rose of Roses
Richard Boothby, Mille Fleurs, Fretwork
Classical - Released by East Props Music - OMiP on 3 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Sonatas for Viola da Gamba & Toccatas for Harpsichord
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Aug 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Medieval Collection, Vol. 1: Queen of Glory
Richard Boothby, Mille Fleurs, Fretwork
Classical - Released by East Props Music - OMiP on 20 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lessons for 1, 2 & 3 Viols: Galliard – Coranto IV (Page 11) (Radio Edit)
Richard Boothby, Asako Morikawa
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 16 May 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo