The Renaissance was an especially fertile period for consort music—that is, music played from high end to low end on instruments of one family but of various sizes. Alongside the viola da gamba consort—for which the English composed skillful pieces conforming to contrapuntal reasoning as much as they did pairs of moving pavanes and graceful galliards—the recorder consort also figures prominently, standing out through the smoothness and richness of its sounds, akin to the beautiful tones of an organ. The repertoires of these ensembles are not exclusive, allowing us to willingly swap viols for flutes. This concert features a program of contrasts with a modern touch.