The formation of the Early Music Consort of London in the late 1960s has been credited with popularising the genre of
Early music in UK and being main instigator of the British
Early music revival of the late 20th century. Munrow was inspired by the
Alte Musik movement that had already gained popularity in Germany, and sought to foster an interest in music of the Medieval and Renaissance eras among British audiences. Munrow collaborated with Christopher Hogwood, with whom he had studied at
Pembroke College, Cambridge University in setting up a new specialist music group, initially called the Early Music Consort, but changed to The Early Music Consort of London, prior to their tour of America. It was essentially a small, versatile group optimised for touring purposes, but capable of being augmented by larger forces for recording purposes. The group's original line-up consisted of Munrow, a wind instrumentalist who played many different instruments; Hogwood playing keyboard, harp and percussion;
Mary Remnant on
fiddle,
organ and
tabor;
Oliver Brookes on
viol; Robert Spencer on
lute; and the
countertenor James Bowman. Later, another multi instrumentalist
James Tyler replaced Robert Spencer and Mary Remnant left. A number of other singers also worked with the group such as the tenor
Martyn Hill. ==Selected discography==