During my long train journey back from Edinburgh last week I whiled away the hours listening to music - a handy way of blocking out the distractions of screaming babies and the couple bickering with each other across the aisle from me. Having four hours to explore music, both familiar and new, was such a luxury, rather than squeezing it in between work. It also allowed me to narrow down my choices for my fourth Sounding Pipes playlist, which I hope may inspire you to go exploring yourself.
As ever I’ve picked a mixed bag of music, with pieces from many different eras - some serious, some lighthearted - hopefully something for everyone!
Georg Philpp Telemann - Water Music - Hamburger Ebb' und Fluth
Mention Water Music and most people will think of Handel’s suites, composed for a Royal celebration on the River Thames. But did you know that Telemann composed a suite too, arguably even better than Handel’s?
Telemann composed Hamburger Ebb' und Fluth (Hamburg ebb and flood) in 1723 to celebrate the centenary of the Hamburg Admiralty. Hamburg was an important port, situated on the River Elbe, and to reflect this Telemann’s music depicts a series of mythological gods connected with water, including Neptune and Triton. We see these supernatural characters in a variety of activities - sleep, play, love and more. He uses the recorder in several movements but in this Sarabande we hear Thetis, the mother of Achilles, being lulled in sleep by two treble recorders.
I’ve been lucky enough to perform this beautiful music several times (although always playing baroque bassoon rather than recorder) and I enjoyed it so much that I’ve arranged a collection of the dances for recorder ensemble. A couple of these have featured in my consort music videos, but if these whet your appetite to try more the full collection is available here
If you enjoyed the Sarabande, the whole suite is available on YouTube as a playlist here.
Paul Hindemith - Trio from Plöner Musiktag
Fruit of a Different Vine - Alison Melville, Nathalie Michaud & Colin Savage (recorders) Atma Classique ACD22206
In the early days of the recorder’s twentieth century revival contemporary music for the instrument was pretty sparse. Carl Dolmetsch played a significant role in expanding the range of fresh solo repertoire by premiering new works in each of his Wigmore Hall recitals - for instance the Lennox Berkeley Sonatina I wrote about in my last Sounding Pipes playlist.
In Germany the recorder was also garnering interest, perhaps most notably with Peter Harlan, a guitarist and instrument maker. After attending a concert at the Haslemere Festival Harlan saw the potential of the instrument and purchased a set of the recorders Arnold Dolmetsch had recently begun making, with the intention of making his own when he returned home. Unfortunately he didn’t realise these instruments were pitched at A 415, so the bottom note of the treble sounded to his uninformed ears like an E at modern concert pitch. If he followed this logic he would have made a consort of recorders pitched in E and B (rather than the familiar F and C), but of course that meant any music ended up with key signatures containing lots of sharps - hardly ideal. Harlan’s compromise was to make recorders in D and A, which could at least play easily with string instruments.
It was this misunderstanding which led Paul Hindemith to compose a trio for a music day held at a school in Plön in 1932 for recorders in A and D. Hindemith performed it with two friends, but the score indicates it can be played by single or by multiple players per part. Of course, the requirement for recorders at an unusual pitch meant this piece was rarely played in Britain until the composer gave permission in 1952 for Walter Bergmann to create a new edition for recorders in F and C.
Hindemith’s music may not be to everyone’s taste and I have to confess I find much of his compositional output a little uncompromising. However, his Trio for recorders has a quirky charm and is a definite favourite of mine. It has three contrasting movements which conjure up different images in my mind. The first makes me think of a bustling street scene in 1930s New York, with parping horns and some blues musicians standing on a street corner (there’s definitely a hint of Gershwin in there). The second movement has a robotic feel, and one can only wonder if perhaps Hindemith had Fritz Lang’s 1927 futuristic film Metropolis in mind. The Trio culminates in Sostenuto movement which, at a tempo of crotchet = 40-50, seems to absorb all the excess energy of the preceding two. In comparison to the others it has a much cooler tone, maybe casting a spotlight on more perilous corners of the city where one perhaps shouldn’t venture after dark for fear of what might be lurking among the grimey alleyways.
If the Hindemith Trio is new to you the full work is available to listen to (along with the rest of Alison Melville’s album) here and the music (in the C and F recorders version) can be found under the ‘Arrangements and Transcriptions’ tab on IMSLP.
Oliver Davis - Earth from The Elements
Arcadia - The Hanke Brothers Signum Classics SIGCD590
Apple Music launched their new classical music app the day I set off for Edinburgh - the perfect opportunity for me to have a rummage around and see if a standalone classical app makes the task of finding specific pieces and recordings simpler (it does!). While music streaming services aren’t good for the musicians who appear on them (the royalties they pay are notoriously poor) they’re a great way to browse and find unfamiliar recordings. Apple Music Classical offers the option to browse by instrument, so naturally I took a look through the offerings for recorder.
Among the many familiar pieces of repertoire I found Oliver Davis’s The Elements, composed for the unlikely combination of piano, viola, recorder and tuba. My interest was piqued and I was amazed how well this eclectic mix of instruments works in the right hands. Oliver Davis has composed for film, television and ballet, as well as concert works and his music has a distinctly minimalist feel, with repetitive rhythmic and melodic patterns.
The movement I’ve chosen to share with you is Earth, which Davis describes this way:
“I wanted to create a grounded feel so anchored the music with long pedal notes in the tuba and used a repeated rhythmic pattern in the viola to propel the music towards its climactic ending.”
I love the way he uses this unique combination of sounds to create contrasts and I think I can honestly say I’ve never heard a tuba played with such delicacy, and certainly never with a recorder before! As with many of my other suggestions, the whole album this movement comes from is available here for you to explore further.
Peter Philips - Pavan Passamezzo
Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet and Sour Cream
The Passamezzo Antico chord progression
We’re stepping back some 400 years for my next suggestion to one of my favourite pieces of Renaissance consort music. Using the Passamezzo Antico ground bass, Peter Philips weaves his magic, creating an endless tapestry of musical lines. This eight bar chord progression has been used as the basis for music by composers for centuries.
Some choose to use a tool like this as a ground bass, with an endlessly repeating pattern in the lowest instrument while the higher parts weave their magic above. But Philips takes a different approach, using the chords as the skeleton of his music and allowing all the voices a chance to take an equal role in the melodic movement.
I wanted to find a recorder consort performance of Pavan Passamezzo to share with you and it was a bonus to discover this coming together of two recorder supergroups - the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet and Frans Bruggen’s Sour Cream. The fact that they’re performing it on a low consort of Renaissance recorders is just the icing on the cake as they create a wonderfully lush timbre.
J.S.Bach - Cantata 39, Brich dem hungrigen dein Brot
Bach’s manuscript of Cantata 39 - click to see enlarged.
Bach Cantatas Vol.16 - Ton Koopman with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir. Challenge Classics CC72216
My next recording is one spontaneously suggested to me by Apple Music as I was travelling several months ago. Bach wrote Cantata 39 for performance in June 1726, when he was working at St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig. It’s a sacred work, with a text which implores us to be grateful for God's gifts and to share them with the needy. The slow opening section shows Bach’s mastery of orchestral writing in the way he combines the instrumental tones (two recorders, oboes, strings and choir) and I recommend you listen to it with the sound turned up to really savour Bach’s magical shifts of harmony. This is followed by a livelier section, during which I’m sure I spotted a little snippet in the recorder parts, borrowed from his own Brandenburg Concerto No.4!
A sneaky bonus… Cantata 82 - Ich habe genug
While listening to this selection from Ton Koopman’s Bach Cantata series I rediscovered another gem which I just had to include. The opening aria of Cantata 82, Ich habe genug, doesn’t include any recorders, but the music is absolutely heavenly - a simply exquisite combination of melodic lines for oboe and bass voice. The video below begins with this particular aria, but there’s nothing to stop you listening to the rest as well if the fancy takes you!
Glenn Miller - Moonlight Serenade
Flanders Recorder Quartet
I always try to include something light to complement the serious music in my Sounding Pipes playlists and this time it’s a spot of big band jazz, played by the Flanders Recorder Quartet. Although it’s perhaps best known as an instrumental piece, several different sets of lyrics were connected with the tune during Miller’s lifetime. Miller never recorded a vocal version, but it did make it onto Frank Sinatra’s 1966 album, Moonlight Sinatra. Had Miller survived World War II one can’t help but wonder whether he would have approved of Sinatra’s take on what had become Miller’s own signature tune.
The Flanders Recorder Quartet bring their own laid back approach to this timeless classic, performed at one of their last concerts together in Taiwan in November 2018. The communication between Bart, Paul, Tom and Joris is such a joy to see and I can’t help but smile at the cheeky interaction between Tom and Joris one minute and fifty five seconds in!
Scott Schultz’s Thirty Second Concerts
Browse through all of Scott’s videos here.
If you need a short twice-weekly pick me up, my last suggestion surely can’t fail to make you smile!
Scott Schultz was once a professional french horn player and during the pandemic he was looking for a way to keep himself occupied. The result was his twice weekly ‘30 Second Concerts’ which feature recorders, percussion instruments and a healthy sense of humour. Scott has three rules for the creation of these videos:
All technology used must have no cost associated with their use (hence the 30 second limit)
All instruments used must be acoustic only and preferably designed to be used by children
All arrangements are created by Scott from available no-cost resources
I’ve subscribed to Scott’s YouTube channel for a few months now and his humorous approach to the music never fails to make me smile. He always dresses up for the occasion and no musical genre is off-limits. At the time of writing he’s released just over 400 videos, so it’s all but impossible to pick just one. I can’t imagine how much time he must put into creating these musical moments (the costumes alone must take some time to dream up!) but they brighten my day when they pop up in my YouTube subscriptions feed on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Have I succeeded in my mission to broaden your musical repertoire? I so enjoy creating these playlists as it helps me discover unfamiliar music and new recordings of pieces I know well. If there’s an area of music you’d like me to include more of in future playlists do leave a comment below - I find it inspiring to receive recommendations too!