Fretwork (music group)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Fretwork

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Img_capt = Photo by Edward Webb
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Background = group_or_band
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Origin = London, England
Genre = Early music, Renaissance music, Contemporary music
Years_active = 1986-present
Label = Virgin Classics, Harmonia Mundi
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Current_members = Richard Boothby
Richard Campbell
Wendy Gillespie
Asako Morikawa
Richard Tunnicliffe
Susanna Pell
Past_members =
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Fretwork is a consort of viols based in England, United Kingdom. Formed in 1986, the group consists of six players. Its repertoire consists primarily of music of the Renaissance period, in particular that of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, arrangements of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and contemporary music written for them.

The group has toured all over the world, with tours of Japan & USA, and three visits to Russia, the first when it was still the Soviet Union in 1989. They initiated a series of courses for voices and viols on the Greek island of Evvia with Michael Chance, and have also been invited twice to teach on the annual Conclave of the Viola da Gamba Society of America.

In addition to its performances of early music, Fretwork has been active in commissioning new works for viol consort. Its 1997 recording "Sit Fast" includes new works by such composers as Gavin Bryars, Tan Dun, and Elvis Costello. It has also commissioned music from Sir John Tavener, Michael Nyman, Alexander Goehr, George Benjamin, Duncan Druce, Fabrice Fitch, Gavin Bryars, Barry Guy, Poul Ruders, Simon Bainbridge, Ivan Moody, John Woolrich, Thea Musgrave, Peter Sculthorpe, Sally Beamish, Andrew Keeling and Orlando Gough.

Fretwork has recorded a series of discs for Virgin Classics and currently records for Harmonia Mundi USA. Recent discs include 'Alio Modo' (arrangements of keyboard music by Bach), Chansons by Alexander Agricola and Fabrice Fitch and a disc of consort songs with Emma Kirkby.

Its most recent disc is 'Birds on Fire: Jewish Music for Viols' which presents some of the music composed by Italian-Jewish composers from the Bassano & Lupo families, who came to England to work at the court of Henry VIII in 1540. It also includes music by Salamone Rossi and Leonora Duarte. Finally it includes the first recording of 'Birds on Fire' itself, a three-part piece by Orlando Gough written for Fretwork in 2001. This work is based on the novel by Aaron Appelfeld "Badenheim 1939", telling the story of a group of Jews who holiday in a resort near Vienna in the spring of 1939. The town gradually becomes a ghetto, and the band of musicians gradually rediscover their Jewish roots to break out from the Vienese schmalz to play klezmer tunes.

Fretwork was recently featured on the soundtracks of two Jim Jarmusch movies, Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) and Broken Flowers (2005). Other filmtracks include The Da Vinci Code, Kingdom of Heaven, The Crucible, La Fille d'Artagnant and many others. It has also recorded for Robbie Williams (Supreme) and Loreena McKennitt (for the album "An Ancient Muse").

Current members

*Richard Boothby *
*Richard Campbell *
*Wendy Gillespie *
*Asako Morikawa
*Richard Tunnicliffe
*Susanna Pell(* denotes members when the group originally formed)

Former members

*Julia Hodgson
*William Hunt

Frequent guests

*Emma Kirkby - Soprano
*Michael Chance - Counter-Tenor
*Charles Daniels - Tenor
*Jacob Heringman - Lute
*Paul Nicholson - Organ, Harpsichord
*Timothy Roberts - Organ
*Clare Wilkinson - Mezzo-soprano
*Christopher Wilson - Lute

Prizes and Awards

1997 - French Grand Prix du Disque for "Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares" by John Dowland1604

Discography

*"Agricola: Chansons" by Alexander Agricola & Fabrice Fitch - 2006
*"Bach: Alio Modo" by Johann Sebastian Bach - 2005
*"Consort Songs" by William Byrd - 2004
*"Im Maien" by Ludwig Senfl - 2004
*"Above the Starrs" by Thomas Tomkins - 2003
*"The Art of Fugue" by J.S. Bach - 2002
*"Harmonice Musices Odhecaton" compiled by Ottaviano Petrucci - 2001
*"The Hidden Face" by John Tavener and John Taverner - 2001
*"Celestiall Witchcraft" - 1999
*"Sit Fast" - 1997
*"The Mirrour and Wonder of his Age" by John Jenkins - 1996
*"Matthew Locke:Consort of Fower Parts" by Matthew Locke - 1996
*"Concord is conquer'd" by William Lawes - 1995
*"Henry Purcell:The Fantazias and In Nomines" by Henry Purcell - 1995
*"William Byrd:The Complete Consort Music" by William Byrd - 1994
*"The English Viol" - 1994 (compilation album)
*"A Play of Passion" - 1992
*"Music for Viols" - 1992
*"For ye Violls" by William Lawes - 1991
*"Lachrimae" by John Dowland - 1990
*"Goe nightly cares" by John Dowland and William Byrd - 1990
*"Night's Black Bird" by John Dowland and William Byrd - 1989
*"Cries and Fancies" by Orlando Gibbons - 1989
*"Armada" - 1988
*"Heart's Ease" - 1988
*"In Nomine" - 1987

External links

*http://www.fretwork.co.uk/