The Hutchins Consort plays on the eight scaled violins of the violin octet designed and built by famed luthier Dr. Carleen Hutchins.
The instruments are the first successful attempt to create an acoustically balanced set of instruments that can sound truly like violins across the entire range of written music. With instruments ranging from the tiny treble violin, tuned one octave above the standard violin, to the gigantic large bass violin, tuned one octave lower than a 'cello, the Hutchins Consort produces an astonishing pallet of sounds.
Based in Southern California, the Hutchins Consort brings together a group of extraordinary virtuosi to tackle the challenge of adapting the techniques of traditional strings, as well as inventing new techniques, to master the instruments Dr. Hutchins created.
The Hutchins Consort plays music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the music of the modern masters. With original compositions and transcriptions commissioned by the Catgut Acoustical Society for the octet of violins, and new transcriptions by members of the Consort, The Hutchins Consort displays a breadth and depth that few traditional groups match, and a sound that is truly unique.
The Hutchins Consort is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization. Donations to the Hutchins Consort are deductible as allowed by law.
I love the selections you have available.. the Strav imprisons me in a drunken nightmare... and the Libertango's progression creates the idea in my mind of taking Beethoven's famous slow movement from Symphony #7 and expanding it into an entire modern soundtrack...
...nice performances!
I have a few questions... do any of your instruments qualify as either a violoncello piccolo or a viola pomposa... and are they all 4-string instruments? I only ask because the 5-string instruments were very common in the Baroque period... or, are your instruments a new luthier "system" entirely?
I call upon my octavizer pedal for sub-cello-C low tones... as for anything high, well, I just have to get up there!
Thank-you for listening to my music and introducing me to yours.
Thanks for the Friends request! I don't know how you found me (unless it be through a search for references to the Violin Octet), but I'm glad you did. What a marvelous sound your consort has - indeed the inspiration for the string section of my own Earthlight Orchestra (would that MIDI sequencing could match the resonance).
