Lawrence Power

Lawrence Power
Background information
Genres classical music
Occupation(s) violist
Instruments viola
Labels Hyperion Records

Lawrence Power is a British violist, born 1977,[1] noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.[2]

Career

Power started out as a violist (rather than beginning studies on the violin and switching to viola) at his primary school aged eight. When 11, Power entered the Junior Department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London studying with Mark Knight. Later Power spent a year at the Juilliard School with Karen Tuttle.[3]

After a year in New York, Power returned to London and won first prize in the Primrose International Viola Competition in 1999. Following a third prize at the 2000 Maurice Vieux International Viola Competition in Paris, he made his first recording (Ligeti, Roslavets, Takemitsu and Prokofiev).[4]

In 2001 Power was selected to become a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist until 2003.

Power is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music in London and has given master classes at the Verbier Festival.[3]

In 2003 Power was head-hunted to become the leader of the viola section of Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, but despite playing with them in Mahler’s 3rd Symphony at the Barbican under Haitink he did not audition for the position.[5]

Since his London solo debut with The Philharmonia, he has performed in the UK and abroad, appearing as soloist with many orchestras such as the London Symphony, BBC Symphony, English Chamber, Scottish Chamber, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Verbier Festival Chamber, New Zealand Symphony, Lucerne Festival Strings and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.[4]

At the Proms, he has played the Mozart Sinfonia concertante (with Maxim Vengerov) in 2006, the Walton Viola Concerto in 2007, Vaughan Williams's Flos Campi in 2008, and he took part in a chamber music Prom in 2009.

Power has a prominent career as a chamber musician, as violist in the Nash Ensemble and the Leopold String Trio. He has made guest appearances at international music festivals such as Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Verbier, Vancouver, and Oslo.[3]

Lawrence Power plays an instrument by Antonio Brensi of Bologna from c.1610.[5]

Discography

Viola music
Elegy, Waltz and Toccata, Sonata in E minor for viola and piano (1942)
From San Domingo for viola and piano (1945); transcription by William Primrose
Jamaican Rumba for viola and piano (1937); transcription by William Primrose (1944)
Le Tombeau de Ravel, Valses-caprices for viola and piano (1949)
3 Pieces for violin and piano (1921, 1924)
Sonatina in B minor for violin and piano (1924)
A Tune and Variations for Little People for violin and piano (1937)
Allegro de Concert in D minor for viola and piano (1906)
Fantasia ("Fantasie Quartet") in E minor for 4 violas, Op.41 No.1 (1907)
Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata, Movement I for piano with viola obbligato; transcription by York Bowen; completed and edited by Lawrence Power
Melody for the C-String in F major for viola and piano, Op.51 No.2 (1918)
Melody on the G-String in G♭ major for viola and piano, Op.47 (1917)
Phantasy in F major for viola and piano, Op.54 (1918)
Rhapsody in G minor for viola and piano, Op.149 (1955)
Romance in A major for viola and piano (1908)
Romance in D♭ major for viola and piano (1900, 1904)
Viola Sonata No.1 in C minor for viola and piano, Op.18 (1905)
Viola Sonata No.2 in F major for viola and piano, Op.22 (1906)
York Bowen – Viola Concerto in C minor, Op.25 (1906–1907), world premiere recording
Cecil Forsyth – Viola Concerto in G minor (1903), world premiere recording
Sonata in F minor for viola and piano, Op.120 No.1 (1894)
Sonata in E♭ major for viola and piano, Op.120 No.2 (1894)
Trio in A minor for piano, viola and cello, Op.114 (1891)
Double Concerto in B minor for violin, viola and orchestra (1932)
Lachrymae – Reflections on a Song by John Dowland for viola and string orchestra, Op. 48a (1950, orchestrated 1976)
Sonata in F for viola and piano, Op.11 No.4 (1919)
Sonata for viola and piano, Op.25 No.4 (1922)
Sonata for viola and piano (1939)
Meditation from Nobilissima visione for viola and piano (1938)
Sonata for solo viola, Op.11 No.5 (1919)
Sonata for solo viola, Op.25 No.1 (1922)
Sonata for solo viola, Op.31 No.4 (1923)
Sonata for solo viola (1937)
Choral varié for viola and orchestra, Op.55 (1903)
Lied for viola and orchestra, Op.19 (1884)
György Ligeti – Sonata for viola solo (1991–1994)
Sergei Prokofiev – Pieces from Romeo and Juliet for viola and piano, Op.64; transcriptions by Vadim Borisovsky
Introduction: The Montagues and Capulets
The Young Juliet
Dance of the Knights
Farewell before Parting and Death of Juliet
Mercutio
Nikolai Roslavets – Sonata No.1 for viola and piano (1926); completed by Alexander Raskatov
Tōru Takemitsu – A Bird Came Down the Walk for viola and piano, SJ 1092 (1994)
Miklós Rózsa – Viola Concerto, Op.37 (1982)
Tibor Serly – Rhapsody for viola and orchestra (1946–48)
Béla Bartók – Viola Concerto, Sz.120, BB128 (1945)
Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 147 (1975)
5 Pieces from "The Gadfly" for viola and piano, Op. 97 (1955); transcriptions by Vadim Borisovsky
7 Preludes for viola and piano, Op. 34 (1932–1933); transcriptions by Yevgeny Strakhov
William Walton – Viola Concerto in A minor (original version, 1928–1929)
Edmund Rubbra – Meditations on a Byzantine Hymn for viola solo, Op.117 (1962)
Edmund Rubbra – Viola Concerto in A minor, Op.75 (1952)
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Suite for viola and small orchestra (1933–1934)
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Flos Campi, Suite for viola, wordless chorus and small orchestra (1925)
John Blackwood McEwen – Concerto for viola and orchestra (1901)
Chamber music
String Trio in E♭ major, Op.31
String Trio in B minor
String Trio in D major

Notes

  1. ↑ Some sources give 1978
  2. ↑ Colorado Britten Society Newsletter, Vol 1:2 January 2003.
  3. 1 2 3 All things strings. Lawrence Power profile http://www.stringsmagazine.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=23002
  4. 1 2 Nash Ensemble programme, Wigmore Hall London, 14 November 2009.
  5. 1 2 Joking apart. Interview with Lawrence Power. The Guardian, Friday August 15, 2008.
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