Last night we were treated to a wonderful program of 3 and 6 part consorts played in the round, with the performers sitting in a circle and the audience around them. The opening pieces were originally written down in table-book format, requiring the players to gather round it, each part facing outwards from a different portion of the page. We heard pieces from a dozen well known composers in the viol world, as I listed last night, the more famous being Byrd, Gibbons, and Purcell. Most of the members of the group have played together for many years, which is immediately apparent in the beauty of their blended sound, and in their unified interpretation and ensemble.
