Anna Picard
The Independent on Sunday
July 2006

The stocky figures that announce John Jenkins’ six-part Fantasies and In nomines give little warning of the variety that each work contains. Written when English polyphony was losing ground to Italian style, Jenkins’ Consorts blend the operatic emotions of the latter with the discursive complexities of the former. A richer portrait of early 17-century England is hard to imagine. Rustic characters jostle for dominance, lovers languish, and alchemists debate. From the sombre to the carefree, Phantasm have given each personality a distinctive voice and each work an absorbing narrative.