In his Four-Part Consorts, John Jenkins (1592–1678) parades his much-vaunted contrapuntal prowess that is marked by a fanatical devotion to the equality of four independent parts. Frequently turbulent and given to frenetic activity, this music charts the interactions of a band of like-minded spirits obsessed with lively struggle and restless soul-searching. The incessant peregrinations of Jenkins’s roving harmonies are heady stuff and make moments of calm and valediction all the more deserved and poignant. This recording brings to fruition Phantasm’s long-standing project to issue Jenkins’s complete consorts for four to six viols complemented by ‘Jenkins: Six-Part Consorts’ and ‘Jenkins: Five-Part Consorts’ (both released by Linn). In over half of the four-part pieces, the viols are joined by organist Daniel Hyde whose sensitive shaping of original accompaniments on a fruity seventeenth-century-style instrument helps nurture Jenkins’s grandiose ambitions.
