 | This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(July 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
Alison Crum | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 November 1949 United Kingdom |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Gambist |
| Instruments | Viola da Gamba, |
| Website | Alisoncrum.co.uk |
Alison Crum (born 23 November 1949, in the United Kingdom), is an English viol player.
She got her first viol while studying music at Reading University, and went on to study at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with Wieland Kuijken and, later, with Jordi Savall at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. She has made around ninety recordings - mostly with the Consort of Musicke, the Dowland Consort, Musica Antiqua of London, and the Rose Consort of Viols - but also featuring as a soloist on two discs of Marais, and more recently with Laurence Cummings, on a recording of the three Bach gamba sonatas, and playing Italian virtuoso divisions on renaissance viols with Musica Antiqua on their 'Word Play' CD.
She is President of the Viola da Gamba Society of Great Britain, and is Professor of Viola da gamba at Trinity College of Music in London. She directs many courses for viol players, including the International Viol Summer School, attracting players from all over the world, and has had published a series of graded music books centred on her highly acclaimed textbook 'Play the Viol' - now in its fifth reprint. Her second book, 'The Viol Rules' was published in November 2009.
The viol, viola da gamba, or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch of each of the strings. Frets on the viol are usually made of gut, tied on the fingerboard around the instrument's neck, to enable the performer to stop the strings more cleanly. Frets improve consistency of intonation and lend the stopped notes a tone that better matches the open strings. Viols first appeared in Spain in the mid to late 15th century and were most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque (1600–1750) periods. Early ancestors include the Arabic rebab and the medieval European vielle, but later, more direct possible ancestors include the Venetian viole and the 15th- and 16th-century Spanish vihuela, a 6-course plucked instrument tuned like a lute that looked like but was quite distinct from the 4-course guitar.
Fretwork is a consort of viols based in England, United Kingdom. Formed in 1986, the group initially consisted of six players, while it is currently five viols. 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.
Hille Perl is a German virtuoso performer of the viola da gamba and lirone. She is considered to be one of the world's finest viola da gamba players, specializing in solo and ensemble music of the 17th and 18th centuries. She has a particular interest in French Baroque repertoire for seven-string bass viola da gamba. She also performs Spanish, Italian, German, and modern repertoire for the instrument and has released many CDs.
Paolo Pandolfo is an Italian virtuoso player, composer, and teacher of music for the viola da gamba, born on January 31, 1964.
Vittorio Ghielmi is an Italian musician, conductor, compose Compared by critics to Jasha Heifetz (“Diapason”) for his virtuosity, and described as “An Alchemist of sound” for the intensity and versatility of his musical interpretations, Vittorio Ghielmi attracted notice while still very young for his new approach to the viola da gamba and to the sound of early music repertoire. He is Professor for viola da gamba and Head of the Institut für Alte Musik at the Mozarteum Universität Salzburg and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of London. He is graduate at the Università Cattolica di Milano.
Sophie Watillon was a Belgian viol player who specialized in Baroque music. She was born in Namur, Belgium to a musical family. During her young life, the viola da gamba-soloist gained international fame with refined and sensitive solo interpretations of Early Music and Baroque compositions for viola da gamba.
Jonathan Manson is a Scottish cellist and viol player. Born in Edinburgh, he studied cello with Jane Cowan and later went on to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he studied with Steven Doane and Christel Thielmann. He studied viola da gamba with Wieland Kuijken in The Hague.
Jaap ter Linden is a Dutch cellist, viol player and conductor. He specialises in performance of baroque and classical music on authentic instruments.
The Rose Consort of Viols is an English ensemble of viol players who perform mainly early consort music, including works by Orlando Gibbons, John Dowland, and Henry Purcell.
Laurence Dreyfus, FBA is an American musicologist and player of the viola da gamba who was University Lecturer and Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
EMS Recordings was founded in 1949 by Jack Skurnick in New York City. The company won first prize at the Audio Fair of 1950 for the high quality and interest of its recordings. It issued the first recording of works of Edgard Varese.
Desmond John Dupré was an English lutenist, guitarist, gambist and a prominent figure in the 20th century revival of early music. He was known particularly for his recordings on lute and viola da gamba, notably with counter-tenor Alfred Deller.
Johannes Schenck was a Dutch musician and composer.
The Sonata in G major for two flutes and basso continuo, BWV 1039, is a trio sonata by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is a version, for a different instrumentation, of the Gamba Sonata, BWV 1027. The first, second and fourth movement of these sonatas also exist as a trio sonata for organ.
Myrna Herzog is a Brazilian born Israeli musician, player of the viol/viola da gamba and baroque cello, conductor, and researcher in the field of viols.
Jonathan Dunford is an American violist specialising in the baroque repertoire.
Peggie Sampson (1912–2004) was a cellist, viola da gambist and educator.
Judith Davidoff is an American viol player, cellist, and performer on the medieval bowed instruments. Her recorded performances reflect her wide range of repertoire and styles, including such works as Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht and 13th-century monody. She is responsible for the catalog of 20th- and 21st-century viol music.
Jérôme Hantaï is a viola da gamba player and fortepianist.
Sabine Bauer is a German harpsichordist, pianofortiste and flautist specialising in the repertoire of Baroque music and classical period, adept at historically informed performance, i.e. performance on ancient instruments.
