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
Similar artists
-
Purcell: The Complete Fantazias (Fretwork)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lamento
Chamber Music - Released by Signum Records on Aug 27, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 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
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by Signum Records on Nov 10, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach : Variations Goldberg BWV 988 (arr. Richard Boothby)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Nov 8, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
William Lawes - Consort Music
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Nov 28, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In Nomine Sixteenth Century Music for Viols
Classical - Released by Saydisc on Mar 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Dowland' - William Byrd
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Dec 31, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dowland - Lachrimae
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Aug 2, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Armada (Music for viol consort from England and Spain)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jun 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orlando Gibbons - Fantasias and Cries
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Feb 19, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In Nomine II
Chamber Music - Released by Signum Records on Nov 1, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Look and Bow Down
Fretwork, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, Magdalena Consort
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Jun 17, 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
William Byrd: Consort Songs
Mélodies - Released by harmonia mundi on Aug 19, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ambitious Love
Alamire, Fretwork, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Inventa Records on Mar 5, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Birds on Fire: Jewish Music for Viols
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jan 1, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ottaviano dei Petrucci: Harmonice musices odhecaton
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Nov 25, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Diary of Anne Frank (arr. Richard Boothby): If
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Signum Records on Feb 1, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bryars: Lockerbie Memorial Concert
Gavin Bryars, The Hilliard Ensemble, Fretwork
Classical - Released by GB Records on Apr 22, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Silken Tent
Chamber Music - Released by Signum Records on Aug 2, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Amner: Complete Consort Music
Fretwork, Dublin Consort Singers, Mark Keane
Classical - Released by RUBICON on May 24, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Medieval Collection, Vol. 2: Rose of Roses
Richard Boothby, Mille Fleurs, Fretwork
Classical - Released by East Props Music - OMiP on Feb 3, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo