Parley Repertoire

The Parley of Instruments practises what it teaches

The Parley's concerts are carefully planned to illuminate specific areas of music and
social history, by combining original researching with a lively and informal presentation.

Current programmes include:

Renaissance

The Private Musick: Music for Charles I & Charles II

Fantasias, dances and a trio sonata by Gibbons, Lawes, Jenkins, Locke & Purcell
2 renaissance violins, bass viol, chamber organ

La Serenissima: Monteverdi & his Venetian followers

Music by Grandi, Rigatti, Legrenzi, Rosenmüller, Cavalli and Monteverdi
soprano (Philippa Hyde), 2 renaissance violins, bass violin, chamber organ

Lachrimae & the Music it inspired

Dowland's Lachrimae (1604) and music by Simpson, Scheidt, Schein and others
5-part renaissance violin consort, lute, virginals
As featured on CD: Hyperion CDA66637

The Birth of the Orchestra

Music by Monteverdi, Praetorius, Robert Johnson, Biber, Locke, Purcell & others
renaissance violin band
minimum 12 performers

Michael Praetorius - Terpsichore (1612)

A selection from this famous collection of dance music
performed with a violin band as Praetorius intended.
renaissance violin band
minimum of 16 performers: strings (3,1,1,1,3) 4 lutes, bagpipe, pipe & tabor, keyboard

Cavalli - Messa Concertata (1656)

A masterpiece by one of the greatest followers of Monteverdi. This programme includes motets and sonatas interspersed between the movements of the mass as they would have been in the seventeenth-century.
2 violins, bass violin, 3 trombones, keyboard, 2 lutes, 8 singers and director (18 performers)
As featured on CD: Hyperion CDA66970

Baroque

Handel, Arne & Boyce

Songs, cantatas & sonatas by Handel & his two most important English contemporaries.
soprano (Philippa Hyde), 2 violins, cello, harpsichord

Sound the Trumpet

Sonatas and suites by Purcell, Corelli and Handel
natural trumpet (Crispian Steele-Perkins)
string quartet and harpsichord

Couperin & Charpentier Motets

This programme contrasts motets by Couperin, Charpentier (including one of Charpentier's Leçons de ténèbres) with suites and sonatas by Couperin (including Couperin's wonderful La Sultane)
bass singer, oboe/recorder, recorder/viol, 2 violins, bass viol, organ (7 performers)

The Concerto in Georgian England

String concertos and organ concertos by Corelli, Handel, Stanley, Geminiani, Capel Bond & others
4 violins, viola, cello, bass, bassoon, keyboard and director (10 performers)

Early Bach Cantatas

Cantatas 61, 150, 54, 18 & the motet Lobet den Herrn - wonderfully fresh pieces from Bach's youth, including the remarkably scored Cantata 18 for 4 violas, bassoon and continuo, performed with one-to-a-part voices and instruments in accordance with the latest Bach research.
4 voices, 2 violins/violas, 2 violas, cello/bass violin, bassoon, organ (11 performers)

Fairest Isle

Repertoire of national songs that developed in the eighteenth-century and remained popular until recently. Includes Rule Britannia, The Ploughboy, Lass of Richmond Hill and Tom Bowling.
soprano (Catherine Bott), tenor (Joseph Cornwall), alto, bass, 2 trumpets, timpani, 2 horns, 2 flutes, strings (4,4,1,1,1), bassoon and harpsichord (24 performers)
As featured on CD: Hyperion CDA67115

Classical

Haydn & his English Friends

The six psalms of 1794 contrasted with music by Haydn's English friends and supporters including Charles Burney, John Stafford-Smith, Johan Arnold Dahmen, Samuel Webbe and William Shield.
Psalmody (15 singers), string quartet, organ and director (21 performers)
As featured on CD: Hyperion CDA67150

While Shepherds Watched

Christmas music from the English gallery or 'Psalmody' tradition.
Psalmody (14 singers), string quartet, 2 clarinets, bassoon and director (22 performers)
As featured on CD: Hyperion CDA66924

English Classical Violin Concertos

Thomas Linley junior Overture to 'The Duenna', James Brooks Violin Concerto in D major, Thomas Shaw Violin Concerto in G major, Thomas Arne Symphony in C minor, Samuel Wesley Symphony in B flat major
Elizabeth Wallfisch (violin), 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 horns, 2 bassoons, timpani, strings (4, 4, 2, 2, 1) and director (24 performers)
As featured on CD: Hyperion CDA66865

updated - Wed 26th March 2003