The Parley crosses boundaries, from the recording studio, the concert platform, to the classroom or the humble village hall, the activities of members of the group focus on bringing their knowledge of historical style and techniques to the music they love, and enthusiastically communicating it to other players, and the audience.
Few groups harbour as much expertise in their chosen field. Long experience in the scholarship and performance of 17th and 18th century music are brought together in their specialist areas of string and continuo performance practice. The main focus of The Parley's activities has been in the repertoire of the early violin family, and their knowledge of 17th instrumental and vocal repertoire forms a solid background for the study and historical context of later composers such as J.S. Bach and his contemporaries.
Many years of working together have produced a 'house style' that is consistent and well thought-out through a combination of experimentation with historical techniques and experience. This style is as clearly communicated in the workshop situation as it is from the platform.
The Parley of Instruments takes its name from some of the earliest public concerts in the world, given in London in 1676 by the violinist John Banister. The core group consists of Judy Tarling and Theresa Caudle (violins), Mark Caudle (bass viol, cello and bass violin) and Peter Holman (harpsichord and chamber organ).
The Parley was founded in 1979 to play the rich repertory of Renaissance and Baroque string consort music, and it subsequently created the first Renaissance violin consort in modern times. With light internal construction, plain gut strings and short bows, Renaissance violins produce a more blended, viol-like sound than the more familiar Baroque models. The Parley now offers a complete orchetral Renaissance violin band, suitable for the music of Praetorius, Monteverdi, Lully, Biber, Purcell and many others.
The Parley's trail-blazing work in English eighteenth-century music has led to the formation of a Baroque and Classical orchestra, and to collaborations with famous soloists such as Catherine Bott, Michael Chance, Ian Partridge, Stephen Varcoe, Crispian Steele-Perkins, Elizabeth Wallfisch and Paul O'Dette. In 1996 the Parley moved into the nineteenth-century with performances and recordings of English parish church music in the 'gallery' tradition with the choir Psalmody. It has also begun a series of major seventeenth works with the new vocal consort Seicento, beginning with Cavalli's great Messa Concertata of 1656.