Lawrence Power
Violist Lawrence Power has been one of the few players of his instrument to achieve international renown since the days of William Primrose. He has been prominent both as a concerto soloist and as a chamber music player.
Power was born in 1977. He began playing the viola at age eight, choosing the instrument over the violin because he was tall for his age. Unlike most other viola players, he has never studied the violin. He enrolled in music classes at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama at 11, finding a capable teacher in Alexander Technique exponent Mark Knight. When he was 18, he went to New York for a year at the Juilliard School, and back in England the following year, he began entering competitions. His efforts were capped by a first-place showing at the William Primrose International Viola Competition in 1999. Another breakthrough was designation as a BBC New Generation Artist for a two-year term beginning in 2001. The following year, he released his debut album, Lawrence Power, Viola, on the Harmonia Mundi label.
Power turned down a position as first violist in the Berlin Philharmonic in favor of a solo career, which began with a performance with the Philharmonia Orchestra and has grown to encompass appearances as a soloist with the London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, among many others. He performed the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra in E flat major, K. 364, with Maxim Vengerov (at the latter's invitation) in 2006 at the BBC Proms and has returned for many further performances there. Power has had an unusually vigorous recording career, both solo and with the Nash Ensemble and the Leopold String Trio. In 2005, Power moved to the Hyperion label for the recorded premiere of a concerto by York Bowen, and he has continued to record for that label. The year 2016 saw the release of Power's Fin-de-siècle Viola Music for Hyperion, featuring Simon Crawford-Phillips, a frequent performing and recording partner, on piano. In 2018, Power joined recorder player Genevieve Lacey for an album of music by Erkki-Sven Tüür on the Ondine label. He made several more recordings for Hyperion, and in the early 2020s, he appeared on two albums on the BIS label, 2020's Voices of Angels, and, in 2023, joined the Kungsbacka Piano Trio for a recording of Schumann's early Piano Quartet in C minor.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Dvořák: String Quartet, Op. 105; String Quintet, Op. 97 "American"
Takács Quartet, Lawrence Power
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 29/09/2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Veress : String Trio - Bartók : Piano Quintet
Nicolas Altstaedt, Vilde Frang, Lawrence Power, Barnabás Kelemen
Classical - Released by Alpha Classics on 23/08/2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: String Quintets Nos. 1 & 2
Takács Quartet, Lawrence Power
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 30/03/2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tüür : Illuminatio, Symphony No. 8...
Lawrence Power, Genevieve Lacey, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Olari Elts, Marko Myohanen
Symphonic Music - Released by Ondine on 9/02/2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
MacMillan: Symphony No. 4 & Viola Concerto
Lawrence Power, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 29/05/2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Fin de siècle: Late Romantic Music for Viola & Piano
Lawrence Power, Simon Crawford-Phillips
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 30/09/2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Arthur Benjamin: Violin Sonatina & Viola Sonata
Lawrence Power, Simon Crawford-Phillips
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 1/06/2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Harold in Italy & Other Orchestral Works
Lawrence Power, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 27/04/2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Complete Viola Music, Vol. 3 – Music for Viola and Orchestra
Lawrence Power, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, David Atherton
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 31/01/2011
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ligeti, Prokofiev, Roslavets: Works for Viola
Lawrence Power, Simon Crawford-Phillips
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 15/01/2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Flos Campi & Suite; McEwen: Viola Concerto
Lawrence Power, BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, Martyn Brabbins
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 31/10/2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rubbra & Walton: Viola Concertos
Lawrence Power, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 1/06/2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Voices of Angels
Christianne Stotijn, Andrej Power, Lawrence Power, Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble
Classical - Released by BIS on 3/07/2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Viola Sonata; Pieces from The Gadfly; 7 Preludes, Op. 34
Lawrence Power, Simon Crawford-Phillips
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 27/01/2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
York Bowen & Cecil Forsyth: Viola Concertos
Lawrence Power, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 1/05/2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
York Bowen: The Complete Works for Viola and Piano
Lawrence Power, Simon Crawford-Phillips
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 1/07/2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók & Rózsa: Viola Concertos
Lawrence Power, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 27/09/2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Harold in Italy & Other Orchestral Works
Lawrence Power, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 27/04/2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mixed Phrases
Heloise Werner, Lawrence Power
Classical - Released by Delphian Records on 17/06/2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: String Quartet, Op. 105; String Quintet, Op. 97 "American"
Takács Quartet, Lawrence Power
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 29/09/2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Complete Viola Music, Vol. 2 – Sonatas for Solo Viola
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 1/02/2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo