Music recommendations

Music in the world of podcasting

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I don’t know about you, but when I’m on the road I often listen to podcasts rather than music to speed me on my way. What began as niche format around 2006, when the first Apple iPod was released, has become a mainstream form of media. Most broadcasters now also share their radio programmes in podcast format, and if you’re willing to spend time searching, there are individuals creating podcasts about a vast array of subjects.

The recorder has yet to feature in many podcasts but, if you’re interested in a variety of music there are plenty of shows that might pique your interest. While the Score Lines blog takes a break, I thought I’d bring together links to some of my favourites - all of them connected to music. Some of these are shows I’ve discovered via my subscribers, but others were already in my library.

While the podcast came about in response to a specific audio device, most of them can also be found via the providers’ websites so I’ll share those here, so as to open them up to as many people as possible - I realise not everyone uses a smartphone or MP3 player. That said, if you want to search for them in the podcast directory on your own portable device, many of them will be available there too.

Let’s make this an ongoing project which we can all contribute to. If you have a favourite music or recorder related podcast I haven’t mentioned here, please do leave a comment below or drop me an email and I can gradually add them into the list below.

The Recorder Podcast

Created by recorder maker Estelle Langthorne, these short episodes give a glimpse into the way recorders are made and how to get the best out of them. Find the Recorder Podcast at www.recorderpodcast.com.

Available to listen via a browser or via podcast apps.

Key Matters

Many thanks to one of my subscribers who led me to this one in response to my blog post about the theory of key signatures. Each 15 minute episode explores a particular key, talking about the characters of each one and some of the music composed with a given set of sharps or flats.

Find Key Matters here.

How to Play

This was another programme suggested to me by a pupil and each episode brings insights into a piece of music from the performer’s perspective. The mix of music covered is wide, but it includes Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (which features the recorder) and other early music too.

Find How to Play here.

The Gramophone Classical Music Podcast

As you’d expect from a classical music magazine (which has been going for over a century now), the Gramophone podcast covers a wide range of musical styles. Some of them talk about the latest recordings, while others feature interviews with composers and performers, but with episodes stretching all the way back to 2009 you’re bound to find something to pique your interest.

Find the Gramophone Podcast here.

Available to listen via a browser or via podcast apps.

This Cultural Life

Another offering from the BBC, featuring In-depth conversations with creative people from the theatre, visual arts, music, dance, film and more. In it the host, John Wilson, invites his guests to talk about the influences on their own creative work. I particularly enjoyed a recent episode featuring the conductor Antonio Pappano.

Find This Cultural Life here.

Available to listen via a browser or via podcast apps.

Add to Playlist

I mentioned this podcast a few months ago in one of my Score Lines emails after the recorder player and flautist Heidi Fardell appeared on the show. Each programme features a playlist of five pieces of music, chosen by the hosts and guests. Each piece of music has a connection to the previous and following pieces and it never fails to amaze me how they are able to create links between apparently disparate styles of music.

Find Add to Playlist here.

Episode featuring recorder player Heidi Fardell

Available to listen via a browser or via podcast apps.

Desert Island Discs

This is surely the best known music podcast and you’ll never run out of episodes. Devised in 1942 by Roy Plomley, it’s been running ever since and there are now nearly 2500 episodes available to listen to in the archive. Each guest chooses the eight recordings, plus a book and a luxury, that they’d wish to have with them if they were stranded on a desert island and the choices can be very revealing. I bet most people have considered their own hypothetical desert islands discs and in the early days of the Score Lines blog I created my own recorder themed one!

Find the Desert Island Discs podcast here.

Available to listen via a browser or via podcast apps.

Tweet of the Day

Ok, I know I’m stretching things here, but there’s long been a connection between the recorder and birdsong in music, so I hope you’ll forgive me this one. These tiny little podcasts were originally devised in 2013 by Sir David Attenborough in 2013 and were broadcast at 6am each day. Each one lasts less than two minutes, but it’s amazing how much you can marvel at learn about different birdsongs in such a short time!

Find the Tweet of the Day podcast here.

Available to listen via a browser or via podcast apps.

Musical evolution - from the canzona to the sonata 

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With music, developments usually come through evolution rather than revolution – as in nature, changes happen gradually over time. Musical forms slowly mutate, sometimes changing their names and definitions along the way. Today I’m going to explore two types of music we often encounter as recorder players - the canzona and sonata - looking at the connections between them. In previous blogs where I’ve delved into dance forms we’ve stuck with one period of music, but the canzona and sonata will transport us from the Renaissance right up to the present day.

The Canzona

The Canzona (or Canzon) first emerged in the late 16th century as an instrumental complement to the vocal chanson. Its evolution began in Italy, where Frescobaldi composed lots of them for keyboard instruments and the Gabrielis (Andrea and Giovanni) were writing them for ensembles. Gradually the canzona spread across Europe and ultimately became popular with composers of other nationalities. 

In its simplest form the canzona is a single movement, opening with a musical theme which the composer then varies and develops. This is often achieved by creating imitation between the parts – a technique later used in the fugue in a more precisely structured way. The extract below, from Giovanni Gabrieli’s Canzon Seconda, does exactly this, with the same melodic idea appearing in all four voices in turn, before the composer moves on to other themes. The rhythmic pattern he uses at the beginning is also very typical of canzonas from this period – a long note followed by two short ones.

Play along with Gabrieli Canzon Seconda with my consort video.

As the canzona evolved, composers began to add short sections with different time signatures and tempi to add variety, but these remained interconnected sections rather than separate movements. Most canzonas begin in duple (2) time, with later contrasting sections in triple (3) time. There’s often a mathematical relationship between the tempo of these contrasting sections – something I know many musicians find hard to calculate. I explored this topic in one of my earlier blogs, so if you’ve ever found yourself perplexed by the change from two to three you can find it here!

An extract of a Canzon by Frescobaldi, with linked sections in different time signatures and tempi:

Composers rarely specified the exact instrumentation for their canzonas during this period, opting instead for non-specific part names such as cantus, altus, tenore and bassus. This means they can be freely played on any instruments whose range matches that of the music and we should feel no compunction about playing them on recorders! In 1608 the entrepreneur Alessandro Reverii published a collection in Venice titled Canzoni per sonare con ogni sorte di stromenti, containing music by twelve different composers. The very title of this collection gives carte blanch for them to be played on wind, brass or string instruments and no doubt helped with sales too!

That said, some works do request specific instruments, including some of Giovanni Gabrieli’s later works. His Sonate pian’e forte (1597) specifies it’s to be played by two choirs of instruments – a cornetto and three trombones in one, balanced by a viola and three trombones in the second. This particular piece is notable for other reasons too. One is his use of dynamic markings (as you can see in the extract below) - a real rarity at this time. The second is title - Sonate. In spite of the name, it’s still fundamentally a canzona, rather than a sonata as we would understand it today, but it shows the direction in which music was moving. It’s worth remembering too that the word sonata derives from the Latin word sonare (to sound), implying it’s a work to be played on an instrument rather than sung.

Gabrieli Sonate pian’ e forte

Evolution of the sonata

The title page of Castello’s Sonate concertate in stil moderno per sonar

Gradually, in the middle of the 17th century composers began to separate the canzona's interlinked sections into distinct movements to create the sonata, and this became the dominant form of chamber music during the Baroque period. This change didn’t happen overnight, as you can hear from the recording of Dario Castello’s Sonata Prima below. Despite the name, the contrasting musical sections are still linked to each other in a single movement. This particular work comes from a collection titled Sonate concertate in stil moderno per sonar - Castello’s way of showing that he was exploring newer styles of writing. As a listener it definitely feels modern compared to the music of Gabrieli, but it’s still more closely related to the canzona than the sonatas of Handel and Telemann.

As the contrasting sections broke apart to form distinct movements, some of them would still retain the canzona’s imitative style. This is particularly true of faster movements, where you’ll often hear melodic material shared between the solo and continuo parts.

This little known Sonata in G by Andrew Parcham shows the further evolution of the form. Again, some of the contrasting musical sections run from one to another seamlessly, but there are also places when you sense the transition towards something with clearly separate movements.

Download the music for Andrew Parcham’s Sonata in G here.

When we finally arrive at the high Baroque the sonata emerges in two distinct forms - the Sonata da camera (chamber sonata) and the Sonata da chiesa (church sonata).

The Sonata da Camera has four movements: Slow-Fast-Slow-Fast - a format Telemann uses in many of his recorder sonatas. His Sonata in C from Der Getreue Musikmeister is a good example of the da Camera sonata:

The Sonata da Chiesa on the other hand, has just three movements: Fast-Slow-Fast. In this Bach Sonata for organ the da Chiesa format seems particularly appropriate, given it’s most likely to be played in a church. However, Bach also composed plenty of four movement da Camera sonatas too.

Ultimately the da Camera/da Chiesa concept is something of an academic distinction because a sonata can have any number of movements. Here are two more examples, starting with a Vivaldi flute sonata which has three movements but completely ignores the Fast-Slow-Fast rule!

And then there are sonatas like Handel’s Recorder Sonata in C major, which has five movements. These almost adheres to the da Camera, Slow-Fast-Slow-Fast principle, but then he sneaks in a Gavotte just before the final movement to show that rules are intended to be broken! Technically a piece made up of dance movements is a Suite rather than a Sonata, but it wasn’t uncommon for composers to blur the lines between the two.

Once the Baroque sonata had arrived, rules began to form regarding how it was composed. Usually a Sonata featured one or more solo instruments (as we saw in my recent blog post about trio and quartet sonatas) accompanied by a basso continuo team. This team often comprised of cello or viola da gamba plus harpsichord, but could be varied to use the organ as well as other plucked instruments, such as a lute or theorbo.

The form of the individual movements tends to fall into two categories. Many are through-composed, meaning they have just one continuous section, often using a musical theme which evolves through the movement. The other common format is Binary form which, as the name suggests, is made up of two sections (A and B), each of which is repeated - as you can hear in the first movement of Telemann’s Recorder Sonata in F:

Later sonatas

The sonata continued to evolve through the Classical and Romantic periods - a time when the recorder was sadly all but dormant. The first movement of the Classical sonata evolved from the simplicity of Baroque binary movements into the more complex Sonata Form, which followed an expanded ternary (ABA) structural pattern.

The two sections of the earlier binary form are now combined into one opening section as two contrasting musical themes, each in a different key. This opening section of a sonata form movement is called the Exposition. This is a followed by the Development, where the themes are added to and expanded upon, followed by a Recapitulation, which returns to some of the earlier musical ideas to round off the movement. Sonata form also became the dominant form for the opening movement of many works in the Classical and Romantic periods, including concertos, symphonies and chamber music (e.g. string quartets).

This Sonata Form movement is often the centre of gravity for Classical or Romantic sonatas as it tends to be the longest movement. It was usually followed by three other movements - traditionally a slow movement, a Minuet or Scherzo and culminated with a lively finale of some sort.

The Sonata in the 20th century and beyond

Sadly the recorder missed out on Classical and Romantic sonatas, but many contemporary composers since the recorder’s revival in the early twentieth century have chosen to write sonatas for the instrument. York Bowen (1884-1961) chose to write his Sonatina (a small sonata) in a positively Romantic style, while Lennox Berkeley went for a more contemporary feel. Composed in 1939, this work is one of the first sonatas written for the recorder after its revival.

During its evolution from the renaissance canzona, to the endless variety of modern sonatas, this musical form has undoubtedly covered a lot of ground.

Do you have favourite sonatas you return to regularly, either as a player or listener, for the recorder or any other instrument? Why not share your favourites with us in the comments below - it’ll be fascinating to learn which canzonas and sonatas make it into your personal playlists!

Trios for four

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Following on from my exploration of Italian recorder sonatas earlier this year, we’re expanding our horizons today to the Baroque Trio Sonata. All of them feature the recorder, but I’ve opened up my research to include other instruments too, so you’ll have the pleasure of enjoying many different musical colours.

What is a trio sonata?

Before I share my favourite pieces from this genre of chamber music, let’s explore the basic concept of a trio sonata…

The form originated in the early 17th century as a sonata for two instruments and basso continuo, often in several movements, and remained popular throughout the Baroque era. Not content with following the popular pattern, Bach also used the term for a series of organ pieces where all three lines are played by one musician on two organ manuals and pedals. Having recently arranged one of these for two recorders and continuo, the very idea of one human playing three such complex lines at once is simply mind boggling!

Returning to the standard trio sonata format, from the name you’d expect them to be played by three musicians, wouldn’t you? But counterintuitively this isn’t generally the case. Yes, a trio sonata encompasses three melodic lines, but they’re normally played by at least four musicians. Take a look at this extract from a Telemann Trio Sonata (one we’ll encounter again later):

There are three melodic lines - two for recorder, flute or violin (offering a piece of music for multiple instruments was common in the Baroque and a cunning way to sell more copies) and a third for an instrument in bass clef. This bass line would be performed by the continuo team of at least two musicians. The first would be a sustaining instrument - normally a cello or viola da gamba, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t use a wind instrument such as a bassoon.

Now look a few bars into the piece and you’ll see some numbers above the bass line. These are called figured bass and are intended for a harmonic instrument - usually some sort of keyboard, such as a harpsichord, spinet or organ. These figures tell the keyboard player which chords to play above the bassline to complete the harmony. Beyond the actual harmonies, the keyboard player has total freedom - they can play chords of just two or three notes, or create something more dramatic or melodic from them.

This short extract from a modern edition of a Handel Trio Sonata includes an extra stave above the bass line. Here the editor has created a suggested realisation of the figured bass. This is useful for keyboard players who can’t interpret figured bass on the spot, but there’s no reason why a performer has to stick rigidly to these exact notes.

As you’ll see and hear in some of the recordings I’ve selected, it’s entirely possible to expand the continuo team further still, with plucked string instruments, such as a lute, guitar or theorbo (a deeper member of the lute family), adding even more colour and texture to the performance.

Now let’s explore some of my favourite trio sonatas featuring the recorder. I’ve spent a long time seeking out some beautiful performances of these works, which I hope you’ll enjoy. Where possible I’ve also included a link to CDs including these performances (many of them are available via streaming services too), along with links to a playlist of the complete album on YouTube where it’s available. I’ve included a link to the IMSLP page for each sonata too, so you can play them if you wish to. There are usually several editions to choose from for each sonata, including facsimiles of the original 18th century publications for some of them, giving you a glimpse of the composer’s original intentions.

George Frideric Handel - Sonata in F major

Baroque Trio Sonatas performed by Opus 4 Paula Records PACD64

Baroque Trio Sonatas complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

Play the Handel Trio Sonata in F with my Trio ‘minus one’ consort video

Handel wrote six wonderful solo sonatas for the recorder, composed after his move to London, and these are familiar to most recorder players. This charming trio sonata comes from earlier in his career, while he was still living in Italy, and is the only one he composed for two recorders.

Handel was a great recycler of good musical Iines and you may well experience a sense of déjà vu listening to the third movement of the sonata. As you can see below, the opening arpeggio patterns (and the harmonies too) are replicated almost exactly in his fourth recorder sonata, also in F major. But in this later solo sonata he uses them more concisely - no doubt with the benefit of several more years of composing experience.

Trio Sonata in F

Solo Sonata in F

Georg Philipp Telemann - Sonata in C major

Telemann Chamber Music performed by Passacaglia Barn Cottage Records

Telemann Chamber Music complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

Play the Telemann Trio Sonata in C with my Trio ‘minus one’ consort video

Telemann was a talented multi-instrumentalist, playing the recorder, flute, oboe, violin, viola da gamba, double bass and more instruments besides. He had a natural instinct when composing for the recorder and his music is justly beloved by those of us who play the instrument. This Trio Sonata is one of his finest, often affectionately known as ‘The Girlfriends’ on account of the movement names.

Telemann composed four trio sonatas for two recorders but this is undoubtedly the most imaginative. In it he depicts notable women from history through music, from Xantippe, the nagging wife of Socrates, to Clelia, a Roman woman who swam the River Tiber to escape captivity, and Dido, Queen of Carthage. In common with Telemann’s other recorder music, this sonata lies beautifully under the fingers (as you’d expect from someone who evidently played the instrument so well) and it’s a joy to play this exceptional music.

Henry Purcell - Three Parts Upon a Ground

Live performance by Mélanie Flahaut, Jean-François Novelli et Jean Tubéry (recorders), François Joubert-Caillet (viola da gamba), Matthias Spaeter (theorbo) & Philippe Grisvard (harpsichord)

Download the music from IMSLP

This is the only work I’ve chosen which wasn’t originally composed for the recorder. Technically this piece for three violins and continuo isn’t a trio sonata, as it’s just a single movement, but the music is so fantastic I couldn’t in all conscience omit it from my list. Originally written in D major, it works very well on recorders when transposed a minor third higher into F major, and this recording is just fabulous.

The entire piece is based upon this repeating six note ground bass:

Unlike many works written around a ground bass, Purcell allows the continuo team to stray from this to become equal melodic partners from time to time. He also changes the time signature time mid-flow, from compound to simple time and back again - another unusual characteristic compared to most pieces of this type. This time change is followed by a section where the third recorder part pairs up with the bassline in canon, while the upper two voices play an entirely different canon against them. Before a final, energetic dash for the finishing line the continuo team strike up their own melodic line, while the recorder parts play the original ground bass - truly turning things upside down!

Daniel Purcell - Sonata in G minor

A Noble Entertainment - Music from Queen Anne’s London performed by The Parnassian Ensemble. Avie AV2094

A Noble Entertainment complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

Daniel Purcell tends to be hidden in the shadow of Henry, who was either his older brother or maybe a cousin. Perhaps that shouldn’t be the case as he wrote some great music which is sadly neglected today. Having joined the choir of the Chapel Royal at the age of 14, Daniel spent time as organist at Magdalen College, Oxford before returning to London to work in the theatre, where he composed incidental music for over forty plays.

London had a thriving music scene in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, with composers arriving from all over Europe to live and work here. If you’re interested in exploring this musical melting pot do listen to the complete album (playlist link above) as it includes music from many composers who may be unfamiliar to you.

Johann Friedrich Fasch - Sonata in G major for flute & two recorders

Live performance by Yu Ma (flute), Yi-Chang Liang & Zeng Yixing (recorders), Chia-Hua Chiang (cello), Asako Ueda (guitar) & Machiko Suto (harpsichord)

Download the music from IMSLP

Here we expand the concept of a trio sonata, adding a flute to two recorders to create a quartet sonata. In this work Fasch mostly pairs the recorders, using them to complement the flute line, both in tone colour and texture. Fasch was a German violinist and composer, well respected and performed widely in his day but little known today - Telemann performed a cycle of his church cantatas in Hamburg in 1733 and Bach arranged one of his trio sonatas for organ. I talked earlier about the flexibility of the basso continuo team and this performance is a good example. As well as cello and harpsichord, a baroque guitar has been added to expand and add variety to the texture.

Johann Joachim Quantz - Sonata in C major

Quantz: Musique de Chambre à la Cour de Dresde performed by Ensemble Baroque le Rondeau & Jean-Pierre Boullet Syrius SYR 141335

Quantz Chamber Music complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

It was quite unusual at this time to write music for recorder and flute together, but as the previous sonata demonstrated, not totally unheard of. Quantz was an important character in the late Baroque, working as a composer, performer, and flute maker at the court of Frederick the Great. We know he taught the flute to the monarch so perhaps he composed this sonata to play with his pupil?

Quantz’s working life straddles the transition between the Baroque and Classical periods and his music is known to have been admired by Bach, Haydn and Mozart. You can hear the subtle evolution of musical style, especially in this Larghetto, where he effortlessly creates long, expressive musical lines. In this recording the continuo team brings a lighter touch, swapping cello and harpsichord for bassoon and lute - a beautiful but unusual combination.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Sonata in F for bass recorder and viola

Rococo performed by Dorothee Oberlinger & Ensemble 1700 Deutsche HM 88875134062

Download the music from IMSLP

If you think of the bass recorder as being the lowest instrument of a recorder quartet, often saddled with dull, repetitive music, think again! In this sonata it features as an equal with the viola, with musical lines every bit as challenging as those we play on smaller recorders. Carl Philipp Emanuel was the fifth son of JS Bach, born in 1714. The latest of the composers I’m featuring today, he began writing at a time when music was transitioning to the more expressive and turbulent style of the Classical period - clearly evident in this trio sonata.

The combination of bass recorder and viola is a curious but beautiful one - soulful and mellow. It requires a sensitive continuo team to allow the subtle melodic lines to sing, but Dorothee Oberlinger and Ensemble 1700 bring so much character to this performance and it’s a joyful experience for one’s ears!

Antonio Vivaldi - Sonata in A minor RV86 recorder and bassoon

Vivaldi: Gods, Emperors and Angels performed by Sara Deborah Struntz (violin), Pamela Thorby (recorder), Peter Whelan (bassoon), La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler (violin/director) Avie AV2201

Vivaldi : Gods, Emperors and Angels complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

We’re perhaps most familiar with Vivaldi as a composer of concertos (literally hundreds of them, including a number for recorder) but he wrote many different genres of music, including a number of trio sonatas. This example for recorder and bassoon is an astonishing work, demanding huge virtuosity from both players. The bassoon and recorder are equal partners, but each has a distinct character. The recorder often has singing, melodic lines, while Vivaldi exploits the bassoon’s more percussive articulation to create some sparkling and, at times, explosive contrasts. Having played the baroque bassoon (albeit it in a pretty average way) for a number of years I’m in awe of the way Peter Whelan negotiates this incredibly difficult music. In this Largo he provides an arpeggiated moto perpetuo counterpoint to Pamela Thorby’s beautifully ornamented and lyrical melodic line. Do explore the whole sonata (playlist linked above) and you’ll be equally astonished by the other movements!

Georg Philipp Telemann - Quartet in D minor from Tafelmusik

Telemann: Tafelmusik, performed by Florilegium & Walter van Hauwe Channel CCS19198

Telemann Tafelmusik complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

I finish today with perhaps one of the finest pieces of this type - another larger scale composition. Telemann published his collection Tafelmusik in 1733 - one of the last examples of this genre of music. Tafelmusik was initially published under the title of Musique de table (table music) and such collections were intended as an accompaniment for formal dinners at weddings and other events. Publishing it cost an exorbitant amount, so to offset the expense Telemann found more than 200 people who were willing to help fund it in advance. In return their names, addresses and social status were included in the first edition. Both Handel and Quantz were among these initial subscribers.

The music itself is very varied, opening with an overture for orchestra, followed by solo and trio sonatas, a concerto and this quartet. In a mirror image of the Fasch Sonata we heard earlier, Telemann chooses to use a solo recorder (this part can also be played on bassoon) with two flutes. The music may have been conceived as a diversion for an audience whose focus would perhaps have been less than 100%, but it’s far from trivial, conjuring up a host of colours, textures and characters. In this movement alone the music veers between a boisterous Allegro and music of a more lilting nature, making effective use of the tonal differences between the recorder and flutes. I encourage you to listen to the whole collection (see above for link to complete playlist) - it really is a musical tour de force!

~ ~ ~

If you’ve never explored the Trio Sonata genre before I hope my recommendations have opened your eyes to fresh musical horizons. But if you’re already an aficionado of this delightful chamber music perhaps you’ve discovered something unfamiliar to expand your repertoire? Do remember, if you want to try playing this repertoire with friends you don’t necessarily need a tame cellist or harpsichordist. Many of the bass lines will fit on a bass recorder (with just the odd low note shifted an octave higher) and even playing just the three melodic lines will give you a taster of their musical charm. There’s also no reason why you shouldn’t offer the score to a sensitive pianist and they can give the editor’s continuo realisation a whirl. Incidentally, if you use Apple Music, I’ve created a playlist there containing many of these recordings which you can find here.

If I’ve omitted your favourite trio sonata from my list why not tell us about it in the comments below, perhaps linking to your favourite recording of the work? This is a rich and varied repertoire and I’d love us to explore it further together as a community!

Sounding Pipes, Edition 7

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It’s all too easy to get pulled into curious rabbit holes on the internet, scrolling endlessly between videos on platforms like YouTube, and it can become a tremendous timewaster. But there are plenty of gems hidden among the nonsense too. Every time I discover something I find interesting I save it, to share with you in my periodic Sounding Pipes playlists. Currently I have a huge list remaining on my longlist, so I think it’s fair to say there’s plenty more to share and inspire you in future editions!

For this seventh edition I’ve pulled together a collection of performances in which the recorder is combined with other instruments - some more surprising than others. We often hear the recorder in partnership with string instruments, but less so with brass or modern woodwind. I think these recordings show just how flexible our favourite instrument really is in the right hands, and I hope you derive as much enjoyment from them as as I have seeking them out to share with you.

Telemann - Concerto in F major, TWV 42:F14

Allegro - Loure - Tempo di Minuett

Croation Baroque Ensemble: Stjepan Nodilo - recorder, Bruno Grošić - horn and the Croation Baroque Ensemble.

Most modern brass instruments would be overpowering when combined with a recorder (although I did once play a duet for sopranino recorder and trombone!) but instruments from the Baroque period have a gentler tone and can be great partners. Telemann was a multi-instrumentalist himself (playing flute, oboe, violin, viola da gamba, recorder, double bass and more besides) so he wasn’t afraid to bring together instruments you might otherwise not consider pairing together. Here we have a delightful Concerto for recorder, horn and continuo, which demonstrates the flexibility of earlier members of the brass family.

Gordon Jacob - Suite

Daniel Koschitzki & Clair-Obscur Saxophone Quartet

Back in Edition 2 of Sounding Pipes I shared a movement from Gordon Jacob’s Suite, performed by Annabel Knight with a string quartet - the instruments originally named by the composer. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this new version, where our soloist is accompanied by a saxophone quartet! At face value you’d think four saxes would overpower a single recorder, but a combination of sensitive accompanying and the use of modern recorders makes for a wonderful effect. The tone of a saxophone is just as flexibile as any string instrument, and you can sense there’s a real connection and unanimous sense of intent between Daniel Koschitzki and the members of the Clair-Obscur Saxophone Quartet. I’ve long been a fan of this piece, but I think the use of saxes brings renewed life to the bluesy harmonies of the Pavan and the bossa nova rhythms of the Burlesque (movements 3 and 4 respectively).

Dario Castello - Ottava Sonata

Anna Stegmann - recorder, Inga Maria Klaucke - dulcian & Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya - harpsichord

We come back to the early years of the Baroque period for this Sonata by Dario Castello - part duet, part duel, for two very contrasting instruments. Anna Stegmann chooses a descant recorder to contrast with the dulcian - an ancestor of the modern bassoon - and the effect is enchanting. It may well have been composed originally for violin, but music from this period was often played on a variety of instruments so I don’t think we should have any hesitation in borrowing repertoire this good if it fits our recorders!

Viktor Fortin - Walking the dog

Clémence Grégoire - recorder & Tomás Braun - guitar

This humorous movement by Viktor Fortin is one of four character pieces for bass recorder and guitar, and it proves to be an attractive combination. I can’t help but wonder what breed of dog the composer had in mind when writing this. Thinking of the dogs I’ve met over the years who share these relaxed characteristics, my mind wanders back to the Basset Hound belonging to my clarinet teacher when I was teenager, who used to sing along in my lessons!

Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto in G minor, “La Notte”

Apollo’s Cabinet

https://youtu.be/kV3SnDAPrkA?si=BPZYu9EFtBJiBEXH

Vivaldi composed a good number of concertos for the recorder, but this one for flute is often purloined as a pseudo-recorder concerto too, even though it was originally intended for the flute. Vivaldi’s title, La Notte, conjures up a whole host of images and Apollo’s Cabinet have chosen to focus on the concept of this being a nightmare. The addition of theorbo and some subtle percussion played on a tenor drum add to the colour palette. The dramatic staging just adds a finishing spooky touch!

Which of those did you enjoy the most? I’d love to hear what you thought of my choices in the comments section below. Do you have your own favourite pieces featuring the recorder alongside other instruments? If you do, please do share them so we can all continue our musical explorations!

Strictly Come Dancing - Baroque style

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Following my exploration of Renaissance dances last year, it’s now time to step (or perhaps dance?) forward into the Baroque period to compare the changing choreographic and musical styles.

When we think of dance forms in Baroque music we’re mostly talking about steps which developed in France and spread throughout Europe. Some of the dance movements we encounter today would have been used for dancing to, while others are a more stylised reinterpretation, such as those used by Bach in his instrumental music.

The nature of Baroque dance

When we think of Baroque dances there are two main types:

Social dancing

The first are the type of dances enjoyed in a social context. Think, for instance of John Playford’s The Dancing Master - a volume of English dances, published in several editions between 1651 and 1738. The first edition was intended for teaching dancing and printed in a small format so a dancing master could secret a copy beneath his cloak to refer to surreptitiously! The Dancing Master only gave floor patterns for dances and not the steps, so it became common for dancing masters to travel the country, teaching the latest steps and how to perform them.

Formal dances

In France social dancing no doubt took place, but the court of King Louis XIV was central to the development of formal dancing - the precursor to classical ballet. These same dances were later introduced to England in the court of King Charles II and subsequent French dance masters worked all over Europe sharing their knowledge. Dances appeared in all types of formal entertainment, from court events to opera and ballet in theatres.

In 1661 the Académie Royale de Danse formally codified the French dance style, resulting in the Beauchamp-Feulillet shorthand notation of dance steps in 1700. This was followed by treatises on the topic, such as Pierre Rameau's Le Maître à danser (1725) which described the steps and gave rules for arm movements.

Now let’s look at the different Baroque dances, many of which you’ll have encountered in the music you play.

Allemande

Allemanda, almain, alman

This is a direct descendant from the Almain we see the music of Holborne and Dowland and the Baroque Allemande became one of the most stylised dances. A line of couples would take each other’s hands and walk the length of the room, taking three steps and then balancing on one foot. This means the music doesn’t need to be played quickly if playing for dancers. The tempo gradually increased as the century went by and the more stylised versions of this dance found in the suites of Bach and Handel are played relatively quickly, almost entirely divorced from the music’s dance origins.

Courante

Corrente, coranto, corant

The courante is often paired with the Allemande in Baroque dance suites. It was popular in both France and Italy and the two countries seem to have adopted different styles for the dance.

In Italy (where it was the Corrente) it was a fairly rapid running dance, with small back and forth steps in triple time. Meanwhile, in France (a Courante) the style was more majestic. In 1725 Pierre Rameau describes it as

“A very slow dance that inspires an air of nobility more than the other dances”.

The common factor between both forms of this dance style is the time signature, which is always in three, usually with a short upbeat of a quaver or semiquaver.

Gavotte

Gavot, gavote, gavotta

Perhaps one of the most familiar Baroque dances, the Gavotte originated from a lively peasant kissing dance. Danced with lifted steps, it became popular in England and France. Later, in 18th century France it adopted a statelier style, in two or four time with a half bar anacrusis and more ornate steps. In common with many baroque dances, most Baroque gavottes are composed in binary form, comprising two sections of music each of which are repeated.

The opening of the Gavotte en Rondeau from Bach’s Violin Partita in E

Bourrée

The dance steps of a Bourrée

Like the Gavotte, the Bourrée is also a dance in duple (two) time, but with a single upbeat and a brisker tempo. It was popular for around a century, starting off as a folk dance in the mid 17th century. It was adopted by the Academie of Dance at the French court, where its small, quick steps were formalised.

The Bach Bourrée above has been influential on many popular musicians, including Paul McCartney who’s said in interviews on a number of occasions that it inspired his song Jenny Wren.

Sarabande

This dance often follows the Courante in a Baroque dance suite but has very different roots. It’s often claimed as a Spanish dance, but there are also links to the New World and the Middle East, depending on which source you consult. There’s a definite connection to the Spanish speaking parts of the New World as the oldest reference to a Zarabanda appears in a manuscript in Panama from 1539. Of course it’s entirely possible the dance had previously been taken there by Spanish explorers, so exact truth may never be known!

The Sarabande’s original dance steps were deemed so salacious and erotic it was banned in Spain by the late Renaissance. Inevitably taking the dance out of reach this just made it even more popular - such is the power of banning something!

By the Baroque it had become a more serious dance and is often assumed to require a slow tempo. But this isn’t always the case - the tempo depends on location. It was played more quickly in Spain, Italy and England, and slower in France and Germany. Two things are consistent regardless of the nationality - the music is in triple time and has a characteristic rhythm. This features a lifted first beat, followed by a minim or dotted crotchet, creating a stress on the second beat of the bar. Phrases frequently end with a weak (sometimes called feminine) ending.

Sometimes the Sarabande is combined with a ground bass, such as La Follia (also from Spain). This chord progression in triple time fits the dance’s rhythmic patterns perfectly and often forms the basis of sets of variations, as in the example by Corelli above.

Gigue

Giga, jig, jigg, jigge

The Gigue is usually the last dance of a baroque suite and has a quick tempo. It was popular in England from the 15th century, eventually gaining popularity in both France and Italy. In its earliest form it was consider a vulgar dance and Shakespeare refers to this characteristic in Much Ado about Nothing:

“Wooing is hot and hasty Iike a Scottish jigge.”

Over time it evolved into a more refined dance and in the 17th century Purcell included several Jiggs in his theatre music. The most obvious characteristic of a Gigue is its compound time signature (usually 6/8 or 9/8), with its lively ‘rumpty-tumpty’ rhythms. More recently, the theme from the radio show The Archers could definitely be considered a Gigue! The complexity of the music varies according to location, with simple line and harmonies in Italian examples and more complexity in France.

Loure

The Loure is another dance whose roots are in France - probably with its origins in folk music. Usually in compound time (6/4 or 6/8 time), it’s a slow, poised dance - sometimes described as a slow gigue. Johann Mattheson described it in 1738 as

“proud and self important in character”.

The dance often begins with an anacrusis (upbeat) of one and a half beats, as you can see in this example by Telemann. Sadly its popularity was short lived and was little used by later composers.

The Loure from Telemann’s Water Music

Minuet

Menuet, menuetto

Originating in France, the Minuet was an elegant dance in triple time, performed by pairs of dancers who begin in couples before coming together to dance across the floor in an S or Z shape pattern - thought to be a reference to Louis XIV’s fame as the Sun King. The musical lines fall into straightforward four bar phrases, accompanied by a walking bassline mostly in crotchet beats.

Unlike many of the dances we’ve looked at so far, the Minuet retained its popularity well beyond the baroque period. Gradually it lost its connection with dance, becoming a common musical form in concert music, such as symphonies and string quartets.

One characteristic which persisted from the Baroque was the inclusion of a Trio in many Minuets. This originated as a middle section for three instruments, often two oboes and bassoon - a combination popularised by Lully. This creates a contrast and is followed by a repeat of the Minuet straight afterwards, but played without repeats.

Passepied

A lively dance from Brittany which became popular in the mid 17th century. It tends to be in a fast triple time (usually 3/4 or 3/8) with an upbeat and, as the name suggests, the steps consisted of the feet passing each other, crossing and re-crossing. It often appears in French Baroque opera and ballet in pastoral scenes, but the Passepied continued to appear in later instrumental music, such as the last movement of Bach’s Orchestral Suite No.1.

Rigaudon

Rigadoon

This is another lively dance in two time, similar to the Bourrée. Originally a folk dance from southern France, its hopping steps gained more formal popularity in the court of Louis XIV and remained in favour throughout the 18th century in France.

Hornpipe

Naval cadets dancing a hornpipe on deck in 1928

While the majority of the dances popular during the Baroque period developed in France, the Hornpipe was most popular in England. Today the term probably conjures up images of sailors dancing on deck, and it probably originated on English ships during the 16th century. Sailors’ hornpipes could be danced in duple or triple time, depending on the location. The Hornpipe performed at the Last Night of the Proms each year is in two, while the folk form danced in Northumberland and Scotland is often in three.

The hornpipes composed during the Baroque period tend to follow this latter format, with a triple time signature. There are lots of examples in Playford’s The Dancing Master, while both Purcell and Handel composed Hornpipes too, sometimes incorporating Playford’s popular dance tunes.

Hopefully this fandango through a myriad of Baroque dances has left your toes tapping. Which ones are your favourites? I’m partial to a sonorous Sarabande myself, but when the mood takes me I could be tempted to gad around to a lively gigue! Below you’ll find a list of some of my own consort videos which include these dances, so you can play some of them yourself - either with me or with friends. Enjoy!

Bach Rondeau from Orchestral Suite No. 2 Gavotte

Bach Orchestral Suite No.3 Gavotte, Bourrée and Gigue

Handel Water Music Sarabande, Bourrée and Minuet

Handel Fireworks Music La Rejouissance and Menuet

Mozart Menuetto from Symphony No.39 K.543

Pezel Four Dances Sarabande, Allemande and Courente

Telemann Suite in G major Gavotte