Andrew Lawrence-King
Like many of England's finest musicians, Andrew Lawrence-King began his career in choir school, serving as head chorister for the Cathedral and Parish Church of St. Peter Port, Guernsey. He took an organ scholarship to Cambridge University, where he read mathematics, but finished his studies in organ and voice at the London Early Music Centre. A party at a harpmaker's house gave the opportunity for Lawrence-King to own his first early harp, modeled after a Medieval Irish instrument. Without any modern teachers of historical harp performance available, he proceeded to teach himself the technique by studying historical sources, literary, iconographical, and musical. He discovered the "perfection" of plucked instruments, which can play both melody and polyphony.
Since then, Lawrence-King has performed with many of the leading early music ensembles in the world, playing continuo and as harp soloist with Hesperion XX, Tragicomedia (which he founded with Stephen Stubbs in 1988), the Harp Consort, and with Christopher Page's Gothic Voices, Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices, Stephen Stubbs, Ton Koopman, Andrew Parrott, and Paul O'Dette. In addition, he conducts Baroque orchestras throughout Europe. He has been awarded the 1992 Erwin Bodky Award (Cambridge, MA, Society for Early Music), the 1996 American Handel Society Prize (for his recording of Alcina), the 1997 Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society, and the 1998 Echo Klassik Prize for Best Early Music Recording. The Akademie für Alte Musik in Bremen appointed Lawrence-King professor of harp and continuo; in his spare time, he earned the Yachtmaster Certificate from the Royal Yachting Association. Over 100 recordings of music spanning more than 500 years bear the imprint of his artistry.
Improvisation lies at the heart of Andrew Lawrence-King's approach to performing early instrumental music. Though music history clings to its notated sources, he argues that the unwritten traditions of Medieval and Renaissance instrumentalists may be recovered and brought to audiences in a vital way; he has compared his type of improvisation to the vitality of jazz, which follows an "emotional logic" more than a formal one, and which stretches, yet remains within, clear stylistic boundaries. Both the harp and early keyboard instruments have been excellent vehicles for his music, both able to mingle tone colors and effortlessly shift from melodic use to polyphony (he numbers them among the "perfect instruments"). His creative approach shows especially well in a series of collaborative recordings with Paul Hillier and with the work of his ensemble the Harp Consort, founded in 1994 of all continuo improvisers, with group improvisation its aesthetic goal.
© TiVo
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The Celtic Viol II. An Homage to the Irish and Scottish Musical Traditions
Jordi Savall, Andrew Lawrence-King
Celtic - Released by Alia Vox on 2 Nov 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piae Cantiones
Andrew Lawrence-King, Utopia Chamber Choir
Classical - Released by Alia Vox on 7 Dec 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Les Travailleurs de la mer (Ancient Songs from a Small Island)
Andrew Lawrence-King, The Harp Consort, Clara Sanabras, Paul Hillier
Mélodies - Released by harmonia mundi on 10 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chorégraphie (Andrew Lawrence-King)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 21 Dec 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lute Songs
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 13 Jul 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
El arte de fantasía: Luis Venegas de Henestrosa
Andrew Lawrence-King, The Harp Consort
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 4 Nov 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Missa Mexicana
Andrew Lawrence-King, The Harp Consort
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 10 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Harpe Royale
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 23 Aug 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Music of the Sensitive Style for Flute & Harp
Laurence Dean, Andrew Lawrence-King
Chamber Music - Released by Christophorus on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carolan's Harp
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 28 Jul 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Garden of early delights
Andrew Lawrence-King, Pamela Thorby
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 1 Jun 2008
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Proensa
Paul Hillier, Stephen Stubbs, Andrew Lawrence-King, Erin Headley
Classical - Released by ECM New Series on 1 Mar 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Motets from a Royal Choirbook (British Library, MS Roy. 11.e.xi)
Andrew Lawrence-King, Alamire, Quintessential, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Obsidian on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Laurel for Landini
Andrew Lawrence-King, Gothic Voices
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 23 Sep 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spanish Gypsies
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 19 Feb 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
His Majesty's Harper
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 13 Jul 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Earthly Angels: Music from 17th Century Nun Convents
Kajsa Dahlback, Andrew Lawrence-King, Aira Maria Lehtipuu, Earthly Angels, Anna Villberg
Classical - Released by Alba on 8 Mar 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Cantigas
Paul Hillier, Theatre of Voices, Andrew Lawrence-King
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 8 Aug 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: The Folk Seasons
Kreeta Maria Kentala, Andrew Lawrence-King, Barocco Boreale, Siiri Virkkala
Classical - Released by Alba on 3 Mar 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Secret Of The Semitones
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 6 Sep 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spanish Dances
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 24 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo