News:

Tuesday 24th October

We receive a rather beautiful email:

A cherished memory: The Art of Fugue in Oxford

We had been strolling through the city of Oxford, had visited a number of colleges, walked along the River Thames (‘Isis’ for rowers) and bought a volume of Philip Larkin’s poems at Blackwell’s bookstore. Later that day a friend took us to see a few more colleges. We had a drink and something to eat at the Turf Tavern, a pub with an incredibly low ceiling, and then continued our walk through the ancient city. Suddenly, in the middle of a crowded shopping street, we were struck by the sonorous sound of viols from a record shop. What we heard was unmistakably Bach’s Art of Fugue. I entered the shop where a young shop assistant, totally entranced by Bach’s beautiful music, sat staring absently into space. He had not even noticed that a customer had entered the shop. I had to think twice before I decided to disturb him, but eventually I did.

A curious conversation started. Of course the young man was willing to sell the CD by the Fretwork Ensemble to me, but I also noticed a slight hesitation. It soon turned out that he would rather keep the CD to himself. It was also a funny conversation. The young man was clearly not happy with a customer who wanted to rob him of his beloved music. I fully understood this and felt sorry for him. On the other hand, this was a shop. In a record shop CD’s are merchandise, the way that socks are in a socks shop in order to be sold.

At one point we both realized the humorous nature of the situation we were in. I bought the CD realizing that for a while the young man would have to do without the most beautiful music imaginable. It may have been a cruel act on my part, but I enjoyed the music thoroughly! Since October 27 2006 I have realized that Bach’s unfinished work has been given a perfect interpretation by this consort ensemble. It goes without saying that I will be in Amsterdam on November 12 to attend the concert by Fretwork and the King’s Singers.

 Fons van Wanroij

Friday 22nd September

On the 25th September, at St George’s Bloomsbury, we’re going to perform our fantastic programme, ‘The World Encompassed’ EXCLUSIVELY for Friends of Fretwork. If you’d like to come or if you’d like to have exclusive access to the filmed version of the show, sign up as a Friend today!

Friends of Fretwork also get exclusive access to a range of other benefits including an online archive of recordings, Lyra viol music, tutorials, unique concert opportunities, and more.

Thursday 4th May

Our latest recording - an Album of consort music by Lupo - has been awarded a gold Diapason D’Or. Diapason said:

Gold Diapason D’Or “An intelligent arrangement of the pieces and Fretwork’s ability to inhabit each measure with fullness gives this music a charm, an ever-renewed interest. The indisputable sureness of the bow of the five British gambists, the exemplary polyphonic clarity of their approach nourish an obvious pleasure in playing…Fretwork paints these changing moods with a sober, subtle and above all sensitive touch…this intense disc constitutes a magnificent tribute to a talented figure in the golden age of the English consort”

Gramophone said:

“The playing, as you would expect from Fretwork, is extremely fine. A generosity of sound colours many of the tracks…These fantasias by Lupo are a fine discovery indeed; brought to such life as they are here by Fretwork” – Gramophone

Sunday 26th February

Fretwork win a Diapason d’Or.

The French recording magazine, Diapason, has awarded our recording of Lupo Fantasies a coveted Diapason d’Or. Here’s the review:

Enregistré en novembre 2018 à l’église St. Mary Magdalenes de Sherborne (Angleterre) par Andrew Mellor. Les trois, cinq ou six violes s’entrelacent toujours avec une cohésion parfaite. L’espace semble s’étirer ou se contracter au gré d’une matière sonore mouvante. Une belle réussite dans cet équilibre spectral, préservé de médiums surabondants.

Amateur de musique, Henry VIII d’hésita pas à faire venir à sa cour des musiciens étrangers. De Venise, les Bassano y arrivèrent en 1539; un an après, six “ joueurs d’instruments à cordes” italiens, d’origine juive séfarade, s’installèrent à Londres. Sous le sobriquet de Lupo, Ambrosio, son fils Joseph, son petit-fils Thomas firent carrière au service de la monarchie. Ce dernier laisse une production remarquable, comprenant quelque quatre-vingts Fantasises pour consort de violes, de trois à six parties. Variété et maîtrise du contrepoint y vont de pair avec une attention marquée pour la mélodie qui parvient toujours à se frayer un chemin y compris à travers l’écriture la plus dense (Fantasie No. 5, par example).

Un agencement intelligent des pieces et la capacité de Fretwork à habiter chaque mesure avec plénitude donnent à cette musique un charme, un intérêt sans cesse renouvelés. La sûreté d’archet indiscutable des cinq gambistes britanniques, la clarté polyphonique exemplaire de leur approche nourrissant un plaisir évident de jouer. Si elle exhale parfois la mélancolie attendue (Fantaisie No. 12), elle ne s’y limite pas, tant s’en faut: La Fantaisie No. 2 est brillante, La No. 10 conjugue allant et générosité, la No. 15 revêt une allure pimpante.

Citons encore les effets sonores saisissants de la No. 13 qui donnent l’impression d’écouter quelque sonate vénitienne avec cornet, et l’unique Pavan de cette anthologie, dont la nostalgie délicate chante avec noblesse. Fretwork peint ces humeurs changeantes d’une touche sobre, subtile, sensible surtout, Sans réel concurrent, malgré la belle monographie signée par The English Fantasy (ASV, 1996), ce disque intense mais délié constitute un magnifique hommage à une figure talentueuse de l’âge d’or du consort anglais.

Jen-Christophe Pucek

Wednesday 22nd February 2023

Here’s a lovely review of our concert in Bath last Saturday morning, with the wonderful Ruby Hughes. The Guardian’s Rhian Evans wrote:

Music by Henry Purcell was the main focus of the morning recital given by Fretwork with the soprano Ruby Hughes in the church of St Mary’s, Bathwick. The interleaving of music for viol consort with songs was neatly achieved: Hughes moulded her sound, occasionally almost a whisper, to match that of the viols, but could also throw a full-voiced volley up into the air, ear-catching if not always seamless. Her clear articulation and her ability to animate key sentiments of Purcell’s exemplary word-setting was what made his songs the most satisfying element here. O Solitude, poet Katherine Philips’s adaptation of Girard de Saint-Amant’s original, was delivered with deepest feeling, adding to the intimacy created by Fretwork in Purcell’s viol fantasias.
Bach, Handel and Rameau also featured, with real novelty coming in the form of Telemann’s Fantasia in G minor for viola da gamba, TWV 40:32, discovered almost three centuries after its composition. Richard Boothby played it with consummate grace.

Thursday 2nd February 2023

In January Fretwork collaborated first with The King’s Singers for a spectacular sell-out Wigmore Hall recital; and then four performances of Secret Byrd, with The Gesulado Six in the Crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields. It also saw the release of our album - see below - Tom& Will, and this has been given a very positive review in The Gramophone:

The 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death is the rallying cry British early music groups have all been waiting for, if the surge of new and forthcoming recordings is anything to go by. Leading the charge with the disarmingly titled ‘Tom + Will’ – a triumph of relaxed (re)branding that the booklet is at pains to point out is more than just a gimmick – are The King’s Singers and Fretwork.

The USP here lies in pairing Byrd with his anniversary-mate Thomas Weelkes, who also died in 1623, a measly 47 years to his credit compared to Byrd’s 80. Putting the two composers head to head requires a broad musical view, taking in madrigals (mostly Weelkes), consort songs (mostly Byrd), sacred anthems and music for viol consort – a ‘garden of musical delights’, as David Skinner’s notes put it, that also includes a substantial bonus in the form of two newly commissioned works from James MacMillan and Roderick Williams, musical homages and elegies on Byrd and Weelkes respectively.

The spirit is domestic, as though a seriously sophisticated household just happened to get together to play through some favourites, and certain works (Weelkes’s What joy so true; Byrd’s Alack, when I look back) are arranged for voices and viols to embrace this.

It’s a lovely pairing: Fretwork all rasp and twist and tremor, a consort tone of plunging, vertical depth, against the smooth blend and polished horizontal lines of The King’s Singers. We get both grit and gloss in the shared pieces – friction that brings a frisson to the gloom of Weelkes’s Say dear and a delicious rustic earthiness to Byrd’s Who made thee Hob. The dexterity and bright clarity of the voices shines in Weelkes’s Hark all ye lovely saints above (this is a group born for fa-la-la-ing) but something like Thule, the period of cosmography loses its strange bite when given the classy King’s Singers treatment, smoothing its chromatic oddities to an almost even surface.

The new works are chunky affairs – no musical stocking-fillers here. MacMillan’s Ye sacred muses is a haunting series of exchanges between fretting, agitated viols and voices whose initial stoicism is gradually melted. A slow-moving, cantus firmus-like tread in the bass viol is the binding thread for episodic outpourings that convulse with sour-sweet emotion. Williams’s Death be not proud brings out the sardonic quality in Donne’s poem – less an elegy (though the use of silence calls attention to loss, absence) than a musical act of defiance. Treating the viols like a string quartet and the voices like the close-harmony group they are creates a playful collision of worlds, and the music roams from American-style motor rhythms via folk music to Renaissance polyphony before a ravishing close conjures a place where, at last, ‘Death shall be no more’.

Friday 13th January 2023

Today sees the release of our brand new album with the King’s Singers - Tom & Will. The CD celebrates the 400th anniversary of the deaths of William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes, and features over 20 tracks of glorious consort music, both vocal and instrumental. You can stream and purchase the album here.

Monday 5th December

Our upcoming programme ‘Secret Byrd’ will see us collaborating with The Gesualdo Six for the first time in a theatrical production - an immersive staged mass, celebrating the 400 year legacy of William Byrd, one of England’s finest composers.

Sunday 4th December

We’re planning a busy 2023, commemorating the deaths of the great William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes, with two wonderful vocal ensembles, in two very different projects. We have Tom & Will with The Kings Singers. In addition to the new recording, out 13th January, we will be at Wigmore Hall on Tuesday 24th January. There will be more concerts in 2023 in Cambridge, The Ryedale Festival & Aldeburgh.

And then Secret Byrd with The Gesualdo Six, which will be a semi-theatrical event, suggesting the secrecy with which Byrd’s Catholic music was performed and celebrated. We will be in the crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in heart of London on 28th January, with further performances in Manchester, Bath, Brighton, Bristol and at the Lammermuir Festival in Scotland.

Tuesday 19th July

Dartington International Summer School is just around the corner. There are still some places available but the course starts this Saturday 23rd July, so get your skates on! It’d be great to meet and play with lots of viol players. in the mean time, Jo has filmed another tutorial video featuring some reflections on consort playing, including bow arm technique and posture. We hope you find it helpful.

Monday 18th July

Following our video collaboration with dancer Miriam Levy, the film we made which features music by Matthew Locke will be shown at the Bermondsey Project Space on the 28th July. More info here. It’s also going to be shown in August at Greenwich Dance Digital - more info here.

You can also see the film just before our upcoming concert at Dartington International Summer School next week!

Sunday 29th May

It was with great sadness that we said farewell to Asako, who left the group to return to Japan last year. However, we’re delighted that Emilia Benjamin has joined Fretwork, and in our latest blog post you can read an interview with her and find out more about her early music life, her experiences with Fretwork so far, and the instrument she plays in the group.

Thursday 10th February

We are excited to announce that this year we will be one of several brilliant ensembles participating in the Easter Festival (10-17 April 2022) St John’s Smith Square alongside vocal ensemble, Sansara for a programme of music for Holy Week, including both Arvo Pärt’s extraordinary Stabat Mater and Robert White’s Lamentations on Maundy Thursday, 14th April this year. We will also be performing this programme in St Cross in Winchester, and SJE Arts in Oxford in the weeks before.

Box office booking opens as follows:

SJSS Patrons Priority booking- 14/02

SJSS Friends Priority booking- 18/02

General on sale - 21/02

https://bit.ly/eea5T3R

Friday 3rd December

We’ve just posted a new video collaboration on our YouTube channel - it’s a dance interpretation of Matthew Locke’s Flat Consort no. 3 in D minor by the wonderful dancers, Miriam Levy and Sula Castle, with choreography by Sunniva Moen Rørvik (click on their names to visit their websites). You can watch the full video below.

Wednesday 1st December

We’re delighted to announce our upcoming project with the King’s Singers - a collaboration which will see us record music by William Byrd and two new commissions inspired by Byrd by Sir James MacMillan and Roderick Williams. This project is being made possible by a grant from The Continuo Foundation - a group doing incredible work supporting music and musicians around the country. Check out their website, here.

Watch this space for further announcements…

Sunday 7th November

Come and hear Fretwork as you've never heard us before as we perform our new Programme, 'Albion', by Orlando Gough and Gabriel Prokofiev, with Blasio Kavuma - Kings Place on Friday 12th November, 2020.

Albion is an exploration of British musical identity through the ages, combining the traditional viol consort with electronics. The programme features new compositions, traditional consort repertoire, and arrangements of everything from Lawes to Radiohead.

More info here



Tuesday 2nd November

We’re excited to announce that Fretwork will be running a course on playing consort music at Benslow, Hitchin from 11th-13th March, 2022. We’ll be focusing on 5- and 6-part Jenkins, as well as Lawes, Ferrabosco, and Byrd consorts. You can find out more and sign up for the course HERE.

Friday 10th September

We’ve just published a new Fretwork Tutorial! This one is by Joanna Levine and focuses on sound production and tone quality. You can head over to the ‘Tutorials’ tab in the main menu to see this and our other gamba tutorials.

Also visit our YouTube channel for even more content, including trailers and full video recordings.

Friday 13th August

Today, we’re publishing a mini-documentary presented by Will Poole, author of 'Milton and the Making of Paradise Lost'. In this video, Will discusses the figures and philosophies behind our ‘Paradise Lost’ project - a full, free concert video based on the music of Leonora Duarte and the writings of Milton and Spinoza. The full concert video will be available only through our website at the ‘Paradise Lost Concert’ tab in the main menu, above.

In the mean time, you can watch the documentary below. Visit our YouTube channel for lots more content.

Thursday 12th August

Just 3 days to go before we release ‘Paradise Lost’ on the 15th August! Featuring readings by Simon Callow and supported by Continuo Foundation, Paradise Lost features music by Leonora Duarte, John Milton (senior), Matthew Locke, & Henri Dumont.

The concert will be viewable ONLY here on our website at the 'Paradise Lost Concert’ tab in the main menu above.

Want to find out more? Here’s Fretwork discussing the project in our own words:

Friday 6th August

Our Continuo Foundation-supported video concert, ‘Paradise Lost’, featuring Simon Callow, will be released on 15th August at 12am GMT. It’s available EXCLUSIVELY on our website - click on the ‘Paradise Lost Concert’ tab in the main menu or click HERE. Watch the trailer below!

Monday 1st August, 2021

Our soon-to-be-released album ‘Lamento’ with Iestyn Davies has just been given a glowing (if not entirely factually accurate - Silas Wollston was not directing!) review by The Guardian:

‘If the subject matter is dark, the joy comes from the beauty of Fretwork and Davies’s interpretations, directed from organ and virginals by Silas Wollston (with a contribution, in the Schütz, from countertenor Hugh Cutting). Davies is not only capable of singing about pain and anguish – for contrast, try If (Signum Classics), his other disc with Fretwork – but the purity of his voice, with its rich palette of inflections, and his communication of the text, makes this ideal repertoire for him, and us.’

You can listen to some singles from the album right now on Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services.

Read the full piece HERE.

Sunday 25th July 2021

Continuo Foundation is raising funds toward its second round of grants to UK period-instrument ensembles, supporting outstanding artistic projects creating performance opportunities for their freelance musicians.

The Continuo Foundation very kindly awarded us funding for our upcoming Paradise Lost video project which will be released on August 15.

If you have an early music project that needs funding, check them out. The 2-week countdown starts tomorrow, Sunday 26th!

https://www.continuofoundation.co.uk

Thursday 29th April 2021

We’re off today to record our second album of Locke. This time it’s his wonderful Flat Consort. Out next year.

But the big news is that we have been awarded a grant from The Continuo Foundation to pursue a project we have called Paradise Lost. We will make a video of a programme of words and music centred on the seven Sinfonias of Leonora Duarte. She is the only female to have written viol consort music: she lived in Antwerp in the middle of the 17th century and was part of a Jewish family that came from Portugal as ‘conversos’, Jews who had converted to Christianity. Her family were jewellery merchants who traded with the English aristocracy, amongst others. Their house became an intellectual and artistic studio visited by many who heard Leonora perform on the viol, and they were well connected to scientific, political, intellectual & literary circles. Thus we can trace contacts with exiled Royalists during the Commonwealth, and with the openly Jewish community in Amsterdam. In England, a blind John Milton was writing one of the most important works in the language, while Cromwell invited Menasseh Ben Israel to come from Amsterdam to discuss the re-admittance of the Jews to England. Radical thinking seemed to have been let loose in the millennial atmosphere - even in Amsterdam, Baruch Spinoza’s views earned him expulsion from the Jewish community. He spent his days grinding lenses for the astronomer, Christian Huygens, son of Constantijn, poet, diplomat, scholar and musician - and close friend of Leonora Duarte.

We will try to tie all this together into a compelling musical and literary programme, including music by John Milton (senior), Matthew Locke, Henri Dumont & Leonora Duarte; and readings from Milton’s Paradise Lost and extracts from Spinoza’s writings. We will film it in The Holywell Music Room in Oxford and it will be presented by a well-known actor, tbc.

Tuesday 6th April 2021

We’re thrilled to announce that Fretwork have been awarded £52,900 by Arts Council England as part of its Cultural Recovery Fund. The money will ensure that the group can carry on rehearsing and exploring new repertories - and plan its emergence from lockdown. This is a vote of confidence in the group and its mission to bring viol consort music of all types to our audiences throughout the world.

Wednesday 11th November, 2020

We’ve been getting some great reviews for our LIFEM concert where we premiered John Paul Jones' new piece, The Tudor Pull. The Guardian says:

Jones, who will always be best known as the bassist in Led Zeppelin, now has a list of musical collaborators, from Dave Grohl to John Potter – and The Tudor Pull draws on an eclectic stylistic range over its three-movement, 10-minute span. The music is richly woven between the players, the opening statement from the bass viols kicking off a dialogue in which we hear hints of the Morris-style tune that will dominate the finale. The middle movement is evocative simultaneously of the easily flowing river and the colossal effort of rowing on it, the upper viols moving in parallel over a heavy plucked bass line, with angular solos that sound deliberately awkward. The Tudor Pull might briefly recall Eric Clapton and Layla in its opening moments, but it owes more to the sensibilities of such 20th-century English revivalist composers as Peter Warlock. Jones doesn’t try to recreate a Tudor sound-world, but he writes idiosyncratically and unselfconsciously for viols, and the piece works: it’s just new enough.

While the Financial Times writes:

The opening concert featured the viol consort Fretwork in a programme split between the Renaissance and the present day. The highlight was the premiere of a new piece by John Paul Jones, best known as the former bassist and keyboardist with Led Zeppelin. Called The Tudor Pull, it imagines the visual spectacle of the royal barge as it journeys up the Thames from Hampton Court to the Tower of London in music that combines the rhythmic energy of progressive rock with the patience to create a burgeoning power. Judged in classical terms, it is succinct and well organised, a clear success. Fretwork offered expressive playing in pieces by the late 16th-century English composers Anthony Holborne, John Bull and Christopher Tye, and made a good case for playing Arvo Pärt’s much-performed Fratres on viols, their plangent sound adding to its hypnotic, uneasy feel. All the events in this year's London Festival of Early Music are available on Marquee TV. Registration is required, but there is no charge. Donations are welcome.

Watch the concert for free here:

https://lifem.org/pages/fretwork-in-concert

Monday 9th November, 2020

As part of London International Festival of Early Music’s online concert series, we recently recorded a brand-new piece by Led Zeppelin bassist, John Paul Jones called ‘The Tudor Pull’. Between the 5th and 30th November, you can watch the full concert here:

https://lifem.org/pages/fretwork-in-concert

It’s free to watch with an optional donation to support the Festival.

Thursday 11th June, 2020

In Nomine II has just been given another terrific review, this time from Australia’s Limelight Magazine. They say:

The renowned viol consort Fretwork’s very first release in 1987 was In Nomine and now, an incredible 33 years later, we have a follow-up. Their line-up might have changed several times over the years, but, like the earlier album, this is absolutely a release of the highest order. In Nomines are a peculiarly specific form. The idea is that they all use the alto part of John Taverner’s Gloria Tibi Trinitas as a cantus firmus. Like the best set of variations, though, from restrictions come inspiration. This disc showcases the wildly varying styles that composers applied to this form, from odd time signatures (John Bull’s work in 11/4) to fun compositional effects (Christopher Tye’s echoing Reporte).

Fretwork are also certainly aware of the importance of expanding their repertoire and have always been active in commissioning new music, so this record, surprisingly, also includes pieces by contemporary composers Nico Muhly and Gavin Bryars. Although Muhly tends to get pigeonholed as “indie classical” thanks to his previous collaborations with musicians like Björk and Sufjan Stevens, his tongue-in-cheek Slow taps into his experience singing in church choirs. Despite the title, the piece is a furious marathon for the players, who bring power and precision to this complex work. Bryars, best known for his work Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet gives us a peacefully dissonant work echoing with melancholy. Here, the richly singing tone of their viols creates an incredible soundworld.

Still, the more traditional 16th-century In Nomine repertoire takes up most of the disc. Although much of this repertoire is slow, there’s never a sense of redundancy. Fretwork’s inventiveness in phrasing and impressive expressive range combine beautifully on all of these tracks, but perhaps none more so than the closing performance of Purcell’s 7-part In Nomine. A flawless follow-up to a classic.

Wednesday 10th June, 2020

Today is an important day for Fretwork. We launch our Friends of Fretwork scheme, offering unique rewards for supporting the work we do. It is also the day, 340 years ago in 1680, when a young Henry Purcell sat down and started writing Fantazias (as he spelt them) for viols; and, uniquely among consort music, he dated each one. So we are offering a concert recording of this wonderful work, together with the score and parts that we use when we perform it. We also direct you to the British Library digital site where a beautiful and high-resolution image of the only manuscript can be viewed in great detail. We’ll do the same for all the dates that Purcell wrote and dated his Fantazias. The next one is tomorrow.

It is astonishing to think that, even though the 20 year-old composer put so much effort and art into these magnificently intricate masterpieces, he probably never heard them performed in his lifetime: there are no surviving parts or other scores extant, and it is likely that they were alive only in his mind’s ear.

Tuesday 12th May, 2020

We learned yesterday that we have been awarded £30,000 by Arts Council England for our Albion project, to pursue it over the next six months, under lockdown or not, as the case may be. This is wonderful news, which keeps the focus of the group on creating new music for viols and making music together, albeit at a distance. We’ll start inviting 10 more composers to consider arranging pieces that are relevant to the theme of Britishness and what means now and what it has meant over the centuries. Orlando Gough, Gabriel Prokofiev, Ewan Campbell & Sarah Dacey have already made arrangements of pieces as diverse as Napalm Death’s ‘When all is said and done’, ‘Cruel Mother’, the Clash’s ‘London Calling’, ‘Worldes Blis’, Holst’s‘Jupiter’ and Radiohead’s ‘Everything it its right place’.

Wednesday 30th April, 2020

Due to Covid-19, like most other ensembles, Fretwork is locked-down and not able to meet to rehearse, record or perform. All our concerts have been cancelled up to the end of July. However, we’re not sitting at home staring at the wall - attractive though that may seem; today, we have sent in our application for Arts Council England’s emergency fund for ensembles, hoping they will smile on our Albion project so that we can get going on it. Also, some concerts have already been re-scheduled, and our concert in Potsdam has been moved to June 2021. We’re hoping we can perform in Belgium, The Netherlands and other places in Germany on this tour. Three members of the group now have electric cars - two Teslas and Leaf, since you ask - and we will drive to Germany and back. No more flying to Europe for us.

Sunday 5th April, 2020

We’ve just launched our tutorial video section (under the ‘media’ option in the site menu). At launch there are two videos, one by Joanna Levine on bow management, and the other by Sam Stadlen which gives tips on how to find a relaxed and secure bow hold. You can also find these videos and much more on our YouTube channel, here. Stay tuned - there’s more to come!

Saturday 4th April

We’re into the second (or is it the third already?) week of lockdown and in Fretwork we’re getting restless. We’ve just heard that the Dartington International Summer School, on which we teach, has been cancelled. It’s the first time - ever - this has happened, and it’s very disappointing, especially as we were to be joined by the wonderful Iestyn Davies - countertenor extraordinaire and professional Alan Bennet impersonator - and Nico Muhly. We were going to be performing both of the pieces Nico has written for us.

Still, perhaps by then there will be some lifting of the restrictions on movement and assembly; and with this in mind, we’re planning a second recording with Iestyn. It’s always good to have something to work towards.

28th March, 2020

Welcome to our new website! Along with all other musicians and ensembles in the UK, we're unable to perform at this time. But as we adjust to the current situation, our minds are turning to ways we can build and strengthen the Fretwork community, even during lockdown. We'll be launching a new blog with reflections, videos, viol playing tips and more. Please let us know if there's anything you'd particularly like to see or hear from us over the next few weeks.

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We’ve had a wonderful review from Gramophone for our latest CD, ‘In Nomine II’. Here’s an excerpt:

‘The group make an intoxicating, luxurious sound which, combined with Bull’s unusual time signature and metric devices, creates an unceasing sense of motion that invades listeners’ ears and seems to usurp their very flow of blood. The lusciousness of the In nomine Through All the Parts by Alfonso Ferrabosco II also jousts for top position. Resplendent counterpoint (I can’t begin to imagine how many hours were spent tuning and refining the positions of frets during the recording process – this is intonation of luminous mathematics) and a shared sense of breath and line tumble seamlessly between sections. This is Fretwork at their finest: historical sympathy and innovation in bounds, a fearless endeavour to plough through the 21st century in all its noise and ugliness with these old and fragile instruments that continue to have so much to say.’

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