London Baroque is one of the more highly respected and widely admired ensembles devoted to the performance of Baroque chamber music. The group's broad repertory has included familiar as well as virtually unknown works from the period inclusive of the late sixteenth to the mid eighteenth centuries. London Baroque consists of four players -- two violinists, a cellist, and keyboardist -- but is sometimes augmented by additional instrumentalists orRead more vocalists. The ensemble has made a number of recordings, all for two well-known European labels, Harmonia Mundi and BIS. It has also appeared regularly on television and radio throughout Europe.
London Baroque was founded in 1978 by the group's Austrian-born first violinist Ingrid Seifert and its cellist Charles Medlam. The ensemble's original keyboard player, John Toll, is also credited as being a co-founder at the 1978 official inception, though he actually joined after initial organizational actions were taken by the other two. Toll (who died in 2001) left the group in 1995 and was replaced by Terence Charlston. Violinist Richard Gwilt, the other member, joined London Baroque in 1984. In concerts and on recordings where the ensemble employs additional vocal or instrumental forces, Charles Medlam is usually designated as the group's director.
In its first 10 years London Baroque gave 528 concerts and thereafter generally carried a schedule of 50 or so concerts a year, a good portion of them spread across Europe, Asia, and the U.S., as well as more exotic locations. The group drew attention quickly in its early years, both in the U.K. and internationally. In the 1980s and 1990s it made 20 recordings for the Harmonia Mundi label, including the two-CD set of Purcell's Trio Sonatas, Marais' La Gamme (a collection of instrumental works), and two CDs of trio sonatas by Handel and J.S. Bach. In general, the recordings were critically well-received and popular with the public.
In 2000 London Baroque signed with BIS Records and its first recording, a two-disc set of trio sonatas and other instrumental works by Vivaldi, was issued in August that year. By 2005 the group had made 10 recordings for BIS, among the most recent, French seventeenth century Trio Sonatas, a disc that includes works by Lully, François and Louis Couperin, Marais, and others. Read less
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalog: 2908601
Release Date: 10/01/2011
Number of Discs: 30
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Christoph W. Gluck,
Jean-Philippe Rameau,
George Frideric Handel
...
Performer:
Kobie van Rensburg,
Véronique Gens,
Patrizia Ciofi,
Marie McLaughlin
...
Conductor:
René Jacobs,
William Christie,
Daniel Reuss,
Philippe Herreweghe
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Concerto Cologne,
Cologne Collegium Vocale,
Berlin RIAS Chamber Chorus
...
Recommendation
Label: Amon Ra
Catalog: 66
Release Date: 01/11/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Thomas Augustine Arne,
John Stanley,
James Hook,
Karl Friedrich Abel
...
Performer:
Lucie Skeaping,
John Potter,
John Toll,
Richard Wistreich
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Broadside Band,
London Baroque,
The City Waites
Label: Amon Ra
Catalog: 14
Release Date: 01/11/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
John Stanley,
Thomas Augustine Arne,
Charles Avison,
Karl Friedrich Abel
...
Performer:
John Toll
Conductor:
Charles Medlam
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Baroque
Label: Bis
Catalog: 1765
Release Date: 08/31/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
(Earl of Kelly) Erskine,
Karl Friedrich Abel,
Thomas Augustine Arne,
William Boyce
...
Performer:
Steven Devine,
Charles Medlam,
Ingrid Seifert,
Richard Gwilt
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Baroque
Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 94027
Release Date: 05/04/2010
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi,
Camille Saint-Saëns,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Johann Sebastian Bach
...
Performer:
Sara Crombach,
Vladislaw Warenberg,
Klára Würtz,
Martijn van den Hoek
...
Conductor:
Bohdan Warchal,
Robert Haydon Clark,
Enrique Bátiz,
Mark Ermler
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Early Music Consort of London,
New York Harp Ensemble,
London Baroque
...
Label: Bis
Catalog: 1734/5
Release Date: 02/24/2009
Number of Discs: 4
Composer:
John Weldon,
Maurice Greene,
Alfonso Ferrabosco,
John Wilson
...
Performer:
Emma Kirkby,
Anthony Rooley,
Jakob Lindberg,
Lars Ulrik Mortensen
...
Conductor:
Charles Medlam,
Laurence Cummings
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Baroque,
Royal Academy of Music Baroque Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Bis
Catalog: 1545
Release Date: 05/27/2008
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Dietrich Buxtehude,
Heinrich Ignaz Biber,
Johann Kaspar Kerll,
Matthias Weckmann
...
Performer:
Ingrid Seifert,
Richard Gwilt,
Terence Charlston,
Charles Medlam
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Baroque
Recommendation
Label: Virgin Classics
Catalog: 504381
Release Date: 01/13/2008
Number of Discs: 6
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi,
Richard Strauss
Performer:
Marina Comparato,
Dominique Labelle,
Leonardo De Lisi,
Patrizia Ciofi
...
Conductor:
Christopher Warren-Green,
Alan Curtis,
Fabio Biondi,
Andrew Parrott
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Il Complesso Barocco,
Europa Galante,
Consort & Players Taverner Choir
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 09980
Release Date: 11/06/2007
Number of Discs: 50
Composer:
Richard Wagner,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Richard Strauss,
Camille Saint-Saëns
...
Performer:
Walter Berry,
Helga Dernesch,
Jon Vickers,
Karl Ridderbusch
...
Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan,
Bernard Haitink,
Reginald Goodall,
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
Bavarian Radio Chorus
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 5046192
Release Date: 11/05/2007
Number of Discs: 6
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Gérard Lesne,
Leonardo De Lisi,
Marina Comparato,
Dominique Labelle
...
Conductor:
Alan Curtis,
Fabio Biondi,
Stephen Stubbs,
Andrew Parrott
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Seminario Musicale,
Il Complesso Barocco,
Europa Galante
...