Alexander Baillie
Alexander Baillie is one of those rare musicians who began playing his instrument at a relatively late age -- 12, in his case -- and developed quickly enough to win second prize in a major competition by age 22, the prestigious Casals Competition (1978). Baillie has since become one of the leading English cellists of his generation, performing with equal success as a soloist and chamber music player. He has also become a prominent recording artist, and his repertory is broad, taking in standards by Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Britten, as well as contemporary works, which he has premiered, by Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Henze, Schnittke, Takemitsu, Richard Rodney Bennett, Colin Matthews, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Baillie was a member of the now-defunct chamber orchestra Fires of London and is a member of the Villiers Piano Quartet. He has recorded for a variety of labels, including Naxos, ASV, Nimbus, Lyrita, Regent, Unicorn-Kanchana, and Cala Records.
Alexander Baillie was born in Stockport, England, on January 6, 1956. As a late bloomer he quickly advanced and enrolled at London's Royal College of Music when he was 16. His teachers there included Joan Dickson and Anna Shuttleworth. From 1975-1978, he studied at Vienna's Hochschule für Musik with André Navarra, and later teachers included Mstislav Rostropovich and the cellist who first inspired him to take up his instrument, Jacqueline du Pré.
Baillie's debut recital was in prestigious quarters, London's Wigmore Hall, in 1978. Three years later he gave an acclaimed account of Dutilleux's Tout un monde lointain, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, under Mark Elder, as his orchestral debut.
In 1982 Baillie took second prize in the Bavarian Radio ARD competition in Munich. By the mid-'80s, he was an international figure, regularly appearing with major orchestras and in recitals, often paired up with pianists Piers Lane, Kathron Sturrock, and (later) James Lisney. Among his earliest recordings was a CD of cello sonatas (with Lane on piano) by Prokofiev (Op. 119) and Shostakovich (Op. 40) on the Unicorn-Kanchana label.
Baillie joined the faculties of two prestigious music schools: the RCM (1994) and the Bremen-based Hochschule für Künste (1995). Throughout the 1990s and early years of the new century he has continued to regularly concertize, often as a member of the Villiers Piano Quartet. Among Baillie's newer recordings is the ambitious 2008 Regent CD set of the complete Beethoven Works for Cello and Piano with pianist James Lisney.
© TiVo
Discography
18 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Holst: A Winter Idyll - Elegy - Indra - A Song of the Night - Sita Interlude - Invocation - The Lure - Morning of the Year Dances
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Lorraine McAslan, Alexander Baillie, London Symphony Orchestra, David Atherton
Classical - Released by Lyrita on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Respighi: Ballad of the Gnomes and Three Botticelli Pictures
Leslie Person, Alexander Baillie
Classical - Released by Signum-Cala on 10 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The British Cello
Alexander Baillie, John Thwaites
Chamber Music - Released by SOMM Recordings on 20 Oct 2017
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Headington: Piano Concerto; Serenade; The Healing Fountain
Gordon Fergus-Thompson, Andrew Carwood, Alexander Baillie, Britten Sinfonia, Nicholas Cleobury
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Andante from Cello Sonata No.1 (Single)
Alexander Baillie, Nigel Yandell
Chamber Music - Released by First Hand Records on 17 Nov 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fauré, Crosse & Ravel: Works for Cello & Piano
Alexander Baillie, Nigel Yandell
Chamber Music - Released by First Hand Records on 1 Mar 2024
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
RAWSTHORNE: Cello Concerto / Oboe Concerto / Symphonic Studies
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Stéphane Rancourt, Alexander Baillie, David Lloyd-Jones
Classical - Released by Naxos on 16 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stevens: Cello Concerto - A Symphony of Liberation
Alexander Baillie, Sir Edward Downes, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Meridian Records on 12 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Twentieth-Century Sonatas for Cello and Piano
Alexander Baillie, John Thwaites
Chamber Music - Released by SOMM Recordings on 8 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stanford: Cello Concerto & Piano Concerto No. 3
Alexander Baillie, Malcolm Binns
Concertos - Released by Lyrita on 1 Jun 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Cello Sonatas & 4 Serious Songs, Op. 121
Alexander Baillie, John Thwaites
Chamber Music - Released by SOMM Recordings on 26 Aug 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Minna Keal: Cello Concerto & Ballade
Alexander Baillie, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
Classical - Released by NMC Recordings on 1 Sep 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wavesongs
Alexander Baillie, Andrew Ball
Chamber Music - Released by NMC Recordings on 1 Oct 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stanford: Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 171 & Cello Concerto in D Minor
Alexander Baillie, Malcolm Binns, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicholas Braithwaite
Classical - Released by Lyrita on 24 Sep 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Watson: Cello Concerto
Alexander Baillie, Hallé Orchestra, David Angus
Classical - Released by Herald on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Homeward Bound from Wavesongs (Single)
Alexander Baillie, Nigel Yandell
Chamber Music - Released by First Hand Records on 19 Jan 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Yerkesh Shakeyev: Blossom
Alexander Baillie, John Lenehan
Classical - Released by Yerkesh Shakeyev on 12 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Symphony No.5/Cello Concerto
Alexander Baillie, Neil Deland
Classical - Released by CarltonClassics on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo