The Viol consort is
a curiously English genre, designed
neither for sacred use nor for the edification
of listeners. It is music primarily
for the enjoyment of the participants.
As such, music for viol consort can
sometimes be written off as simply music
for amateurs. But whilst, in 17th
century England, consort music might
have been played by non-professional
musicians for their own enjoyment, such
pieces are neither simple nor unrewarding
for the listeners.
On the contrary, the
genre is surprisingly complex. Viol
consorts subsist on music that is consistently
polyphonic and in which each player
is an equal. There are no moments of
melody and accompaniment here, just
continuous counterpoint - the textures
can be dense but always rewarding. John
Jenkins wrote his six-part Consorts
in the 1620s at a time when lighter
textures were coming into vogue from
Italy. And by the second half of a century,
with a new King who was heavily influenced
by the French style of music, these
viol consorts would seem heavily out
of date. The delightful rigours of continuous
counterpoint would be described as ‘clog’d
with somewhat of an English vein’.
Not everyone would have agreed, Purcell’s
Viol consorts being a remarkable late
flowering of the genre.
Not a lot is known
about John Jenkins’ early life; he seems
to have had some sort of connection
to aristocratic patrons in Norfolk (in
Dereham and Hunstanton). He performed
for Charles I and took part in Shirley’s
masque The Triumph of Peace in
1634.
At first glance the
music can be rather dense, but in the
hands of a group like Phantasm textures
begin to clear and we start to appreciate
the balanced conversation between six
equal individuals. Jenkins applies varied
articulation and judicious use of exotic
harmonies to guide us along the way,
but as with all good conversation it
is not so much the ending as the journey
itself that is the point.
On this disc, Phantasm
play all of Jenkins six-part Fantasies
along with two pavans and two In nomines.
Such a concentration of six-part music
can seem a little forbidding, but their
touch is surprisingly light and engaging
at times. Liveliness of articulation
is one of their strong points and textures
never get clogged. Despite the dark
mahogany sound of the six viols, the
players manage to keep a notable clarity
of line.
Phantasm are a remarkably
international group. Founded in 1994
by the American viol player Lawrence
Dreyfuss, the other three regular members
of the group are American, Scots and
Finnish. On this disc they are joined
by another Finn and an English woman
to make a remarkably cosmopolitan line-up.
Perhaps one element of the group’s remarkable
cohesion is that all the players originally
studied modern instruments. Dreyfuss
and his group were inspired by the example
of some of the great 20th
century string quartets and seek to
apply this sort of communal music-making
to ensembles of an earlier era.
Jenkins’ music does
not have the inspired naughtiness of
his contemporary William Lawes; although
it can have a sombre tone, engaging
moments are never far away and there
are occasional exuberant outbursts which
the players relish.
The recording was made
in Merton College Chapel, but you would
not know it. The recording engineers
have caught the viols perfectly, giving
them space and bloom without the unnecessary
boom of the large acoustic.
Other groups have recorded
these pieces interspersed with Jenkins’
music for other forces, to provide the
listener with some sort of aural relief.
But with performances like these, such
relief hardly seems necessary. Just
put the disc in the CD player, pour
yourself a glass of wine, lower the
lights and sit back and revel in the
brilliant conversation of a group of
old friends, familiar enough to take
liberties but always balanced and civilised.
Robert Hugill
Emilia Benjamin (tenor viol) 
