Reviews
CLASSICAL SOURCE.COM

'...But PLG always chooses well, so it is unlikely that the musicians heard will be anything less than top-notch...Consortium5 is a group of five former students from the Royal Academy of music. In terms of the range and versatility of the recorder, this was a revelation. The premieres of Darren Bloom’s Consorts and Kathryn Butler’s Cassiopeia were contrasted; the former rather ‘electronic’-sounding in construction (short and delightful, too) and exploring the recorder’s didgeridoo qualities, an aboriginal suggestion that also informed Butler’s piece, which otherwise was rather static and stilted. Daniel Bickerton’s The Court Jester invoked a sense of period and character – and just a little (harmless) madness!

The members of Consortium5 played The Court Jester from memory, as they also did the first performance of Brooks Frederickson’s Quintet for Fifteen Recorders. Yes, there are 15 varieties of recorder – from sopranino to subbass (the latter a big beast indeed!). This was a top to bottom investigation of the instruments’ potential. Stealing the show, though, was the premiere (to a PLG commission) of David Bedford’s Variations and Cadenzas on a theme from Susato’s ‘Danserye’, which began as the musicians made their return from backstage, the jaunty theme itself ideally sounded on recorders and then treated to some brilliant variants (occasionally involving the musicians playing two instruments simultaneously!). With the recorders sometimes masquerading as penny-whistles and accordions (in terms of timbre), Bedford’s whimsical imagination has created a mischievous scamp of a piece that really brightens the spirits.'

Colin Anderson
Purcell Room, Southbank, 5th January 2009.
MUSICAL POINTERS.CO.UK

'...The other event I shall long remember was a morning recital by an accomplished recorder quintet.

Consortium5, formed as a student group at the Royal Academy of Music, took the palm for preparation and presentation; they'd thought of everything! They played their Noyses, Sounds and Sweet Ayres all by memory and in various locations - up in the gallery as well as on stage.

Most striking was a sequence in the aisle at the middle of the Chapel, close to those audience members far from the front. First they formed an inward facing circle showing close rapport and eye contact; then they turned to become an outward facing circle demonstrating their long practised ensemble with rhythmic and tonal unanimity. The items were introduced by each of the five girls, projected in clear voice right to the back of the chapel; this made us feel we were getting to know them as individuals.

They are planning their first CD (hear excerpts on line) and I suggested that they should consider filming for a DVD or, failing that, an online video, such as has been done to great success by my favourite group at last year's Festival, Pantagruel on myspacetv.com. Consortium5 was invited to accompany part of Byrd's Mass for Five Voices at Sunday's Festival Eucharist in the ORNC Chapel, where we took our farewell of GreenwichEMF2008.

Peter Grahame Woolf'

For the full review of the festival go to: http://www.musicalpointers.co.uk/festivals/uk/GreenwichEMF2008.html

August 2007
Consortium5 are a group of five recorder players who met at London’s Royal Academy of Music. They have already had some success in competitions, and one prestigious award enabled them to buy an impressive set of renaissance recorders. As well as early music, they also commission works from present day composers for their period instruments. Their two programmes gave a very good overview of the range of consort music suitable, if not explicitly written, for recorders. They made excellent contact with the audience, helped by making very good use of the wide stage area available to them. In Tye’s ‘Crye’ In Nomine, for example, they sat well apart, each directly facing the audience in an ‘everyone for themselves’ approach that exactly fitted the mood and virtuosic content of the piece. I particularly liked their willingness to explore the humorous side of the music, notably in concertos by Boismortier. Inga Maria Klaucke gave attractive spoken introductions to the pieces, and the whole group coped very well with some tricky questions from the audience about resultant tones in the preliminary concert. This talented and well-presented young group are just the thing to dispel the myths that seem to surround recorder groups in this country.

20th July 2007
by David Denton
The result of this year's Early Music competition must have been close to call, the eventual winners, Le Jardin Secret, receiving concerts, broadcasts and that most valuable debut recording as part of their prize. Five very differing groups had come through to the final presented through one long day. The result must have stunned those who had Consortium5 as the runaway winners, the five attractive young ladies playing a fabulous set of recorders in listener-friendly music, both looked and sounded the most marketable group on view, even if recorders are not normally your scene. The Oboe Band, with the unusual line-up of three oboes and a bassoon, would have been in the final frame until some finger-twisting passages rather caught them out, and maybe the sleekly efficient Saraband Consort could have chosen a better programme. Then just to display their perversity, the audience prize also went to Le Jardin Secret, the group's performance having enjoyed a cool audience response.

24th April 2007
Rare Sounds at the Rüschhaus: Consortium5 offered an engaging tour across epochs, countries and musical styles in the historical venue of the Rüschhaus (Münster, Germany). The numerous guests relished the accomplished and intriguing recorder concert, and expressed their gratitude for such a musical treat with long applause.

5th April 2007
Consortium5's fare is about as far as you can get from painful school-day recorder recitals of Frère Jacques - they perform a considerable repertoire on a staggering range of instruments... ...from the cloudy tones of the 6ft sub-bass recorder to the virtuoso descant, this 45-minute concert of Renaissance and Baroque quartets, with a couple of contemporary pieces thrown in for good measure, was not short on finesse.