Playlist
Music for Viol Consort
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FIRST PUBLISHED 29 JUN 2025
This playlist celebrates music for viol consort, giving an overview of some of the best-loved musical forms for the instruments, from Fantasias and In Nomines, to Pavans, Galliards and Almans. It showcases recordings by viol consorts working in the UK today, from Fretwork, Phantasm and Newe Vialles to the Linarol, Chelys and Rose Consorts – with tracks from Continuo-funded albums among other recordings, interspersed by works for solo viol.
The majority of tracks come from the ‘Golden Age’ of viol consort music in England between 1575 and 1650 – featuring the likes of William Byrd, John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons, and Henry Purcell. Also included is music from composers living and working in continental Europe, from Flemish composers such as Pierre de la Rue and Orlando de Lassus to French names, including Marin Marais and Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, and Spain’s Diego Ortiz. It also ventures into mid-18th century Germany, concluding with a fantasia by Telemann and the first ‘Contrapunctus’ from Bach’s masterpiece, The Art of Fugue.
Listen below, or on our Spotify Playlist – Music for Viol Consort.
Christopher Simpson – Divisions on a ground in F
Orlando Gibbons – Go from my window
Henry Purcell – Fantasia VI in 4 parts, Z737
Tobias Hume – Good againe
Pierre de la Rue – Carmen I
John Dowland – ‘The King of Denmark’s Galiard’ from Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares
William Byrd – If women could be fair
Fretwork | The King’s Singers | Edward de Vere | Christopher Bruer
Marin Marais – Les voix humaines
Thomas Weelkes – Pavan No. 3
Henricus Isaac – Palle, palle
Richard Sumarte – Dafne
Richard Sumarte – Monsieur’s Almain
Henry Purcell – Fantasia VII in 4 parts, Z738
Thomas Weelkes – In Nomine in 4 parts
Georg Blanckenmüller – Inn stetter hut
The Linarol Consort | James Gilchrist
Tobias Hume – The Spirit of Gambo
John Dornenburg
John Dowland – Pavan ‘Lachrimae coactae’ (Flow my tears) from Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares
John Taverner – Quemadmodum
Thomas Tomkins – Fantasia VII in 3 parts
John Playford – Saraband
Claude Le Jeune – Première Fantaisie
Orlando Gibbons – Fantasias No. 6 in 6 parts
John Dowland – ‘M. George Whitehead his Almand’ from Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares
Anonymous – ‘Jigg’ from The Williamsburg Musick Song-Book
William Lawes – Consort Set in G minor in 5 parts: II. On the Playnesong
Heinrich Isaac – La la hö hö
Orlando Gibbons – In Nomine No. 3 in 5 parts
Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe – Les pleurs
Jordi Savall | Christophe Coin
William Byrd – Canon Six in One
William Lawes – Consort Set in F in 6 parts: III. Aire No. 2
Orlando de Lassus – Im Mayen hort man die Hanen kraye
Johannes Schenk – Aria burlesca
William Byrd – Fantasia No. 2 in 3 parts
Matthew Locke – The Flat Consort for My Cousin Kemble: I. Fantazie
Phantasm | Elizabeth Kenny
John Jenkins – Fantasy No. 4 in D minor
Diego Ortiz – Ricercare No. 2 for viola da gamba
Christopher Simpson - 20 Ayres: No.16, Aire in D Minor
Chelys Consort of Viols | James Akers
Heinrich Isaac – File vos
Christopher Tye – In Nomine ‘Blameless’
Phantasm | Laurence Dreyfus
William Byrd - Browning, T. 387 'The Leaves Be Green'
Georg Philipp Telemann – Fantasia No. 7 in G minor, TWV 40:32: II. Vivace
Johann Sebastian Bach – The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: 1. Contrapunctus I
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