Sounding Pipes, Edition 7

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!

Sounding Pipes, Edition 6

With Christmas almost upon us, for this edition of Sounding Pipes I’ve gathered together another eclectic collection of music for you to enjoy during the festive break. Some of them are standalone works, while others are longer programmes you can escape into if you need some time away from the hustle and bustle of Christmas.

J.S. Bach - Cantata: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 140

Netherlands Bach Society, directed by Jos van Veldhoven

As recorder players we often ‘borrow’ music from other sources to expand our repertoire - undoubtedly an enjoyable way to broaden our musical horizons. If you’re going to do this I think it’s important to also explore the original source of your music, whether that’s via live performances or recordings. One of my consort videos this week was a trio movement from Bach’s famous Wachet auf Cantata so I’m beginning this edition of Sounding Pipes with a wonderful recording of the entire cantata.

Most people will have at least a passing familiarity with the melody from this cantata’s most famous chorale movement, even if that awareness comes from a series of adverts for Lloyds Bank from the 1980s! That movement is of course just a small section of a much longer work, so this live performance helps put it into context. If you play a lot of Baroque music (and most recorder players do) I encourage you to listen to repertoire from this period as more than just background music. It doesn’t necessarily need to be played on recorders - music for any instruments or voices can help us learn more about stylish phrasing and articulation, especially when performed in a historically informed way.

Corelli Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.8 Christmas Concerto

Dorothee Oberlinger and Tabea Seibert with Sonatori de la Gioisa Marca

While I’d like these playlists to be something you can dip back into at any time of year, I wanted to include at least one Christmas related piece. Corelli’s Christmas Concerto is another very famous work, originally composed for a trio of solo string instruments (two violins and cello) with string orchestra. It’s been purloined by many different instruments but this particular arrangement is one made back in the 18th century, when the work was still quite new. Playing the solo violin lines on recorders creates a very different soundworld, and this performance has oodles of energy and drive.

Anton Bruckner - Vexilla regis prodeunt, WAB 51

Quartet New Generation Genuin GEN89143

After all that Baroque energy we come another borrowed piece, but with an altogether calmer mood. Bruckner’s choral music often fits well on recorders - the range of the human voice is comparable to the recorder and his legato melodic lines suit the instrument comfortably. Here Quartet New Generation play Vexilla regis prodeunt on a consort of low recorders and their low, mellifluous tones are just magical. The end result is perfectly tuned and is distinctly reminiscent of an organ played on its flute stop. Take a moment to stop the world, close your eyes and just let this glorious sound wash over you!

Richard Harvey - Concerto Incantanto

Michala Petri (recorders) with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, directed by Jean Thorel OUR Recordings 6220606

If you’re not already familiar with Richard Harvey there’s a good chance you might either have heard some of his film and TV music or have heard his playing in the soundtracks of films such as Harry Potter or The Lion King. He’s a fantastic recorder player and his disc of Vivaldi recorder concertos was one of my favourites when I was a teenager.

In 2009 he composed Concerto Incantanto for Michala Petri and there’s undoubtedly some film music magic going on here. Listening to the work I also spotted echoes of more traditional recorder music, including a snippet (intentional or otherwise) from Walter Leigh’s Sonatina for recorder. So often recorder concertos are just accompanied by strings, but here Richard Harvey uses a broader colour palette, incorporating woodwinds, harp, celeste and percussion to create a fantastical soundworld. Digging around on the net I also found this adorable clip from the world premiere performance where he joins Michala Petri on stage, recorder in hand, to whip through a Handel trio sonata, playing on two sopraninos with strings accompanying!

In this YouTube playlist you get an added bonus as the album also includes Sir Malcolm Arnold’s Recorder Concerto and Gordon Jacob’s Suite for recorder and strings. I’ve featured the latter piece in an earlier Sounding Pipes playlist but it’s always interesting to compare different versions of works. The Arnold Concerto is a typically dynamic piece of music and one I once heard it in the presence of the composer himself in Harrogate when I was a teenager. I was blown away by his writing and naturally went to tell him how much I’d enjoyed it, although I seem to remember he seemed distinctly underwhelmed by my naive, youthful enthusiasm for his music!

The Flanders Recorder Duo in concert

Recorded on 24th October 2021

You’re no doubt familiar with the Flanders Recorder Quartet, but did you know that Tom Beets and Joris Van Goethem have continued performing as a duo since the quartet gave their final performance in 2018? Their enthusiasm for discovering fresh duo repertoire is infectious and their programming uniquely creative. Recent projects have included a CD, editions of the music they play and a new CD recorded with the composer Sören Sieg, which is due for release in 2024 - you can find lots of information about all of these on their website here.

The video below is a concert programme featuring a huge mix of repertoire, from medieval to the current century. Alongside music by Bach and Telemann, you’ll find Vaughan William’s Suite for two pipes (a welcome addition to the more familiar one for four), melodies from Renaissance Spain and Glen Shannon’s dynamic Slingshot. Both the music and the instruments are engagingly introduced by Tom and Joris, leaving me wanting to explore more of this music myself. If you’ve never met them in person, this is a great glimpse of their creative teaching style. If the chance comes to work with them I recommend you grasp the opportunity with both hands!

Find an hour to sit down with this in a comfy chair with a cuppa or a glass of something warming and it’ll be time well spent…

Morning joy

Short animated film directed by John Henry Hinkel.

Here we have something a little different, but still with a recorder connection. This short film introduces us to a recently widowed composer who’s depressed. His attempts to compose come to nothing until he finds himself being serenaded by a bluebird, whose voice is performed by recorder player Charlotte Barbour-Condini. The film contains barely a word of dialogue who needs language when music and storytelling are combined so beautifully….

That wraps up Edition 6 of Sounding Pipes and I hope you’ve enjoyed my selections. I know YouTube can be a huge time waster, but if you look in the right places it can also be a wonderful source of musical inspiration. If you have favourite performers you enjoy listening to why not share them in the comments below and we can all go exploring online - who knows, some of them may find their way into future playlists here!

Sounding Pipes, Edition 5

When do you listen to music? Do you make time to sit down and give it your full attention, or are you a multitasker, enjoying music as an accompaniment while you do other things? I have a to confess I’m not very good at the latter approach - I tend to get distracted by the music, perpetually analysing what I’m hearing. But I do have one time each day when I can explore, and that’s when I’m at the gym or out for a brisk walk around our village.

This week I wandered the country lanes near home, listening to an eclectic mix of repertoire and I’m pleased to be able to share some of my discoveries with you in the latest of my Sounding Pipes playlist. I’ve dug out a varied selection of music, exploring the recorder’s rich repertoire. Some of the pieces are works you may have played yourself, but I hope you’ll discover some new repertoire here too.

Francesco Mancini - Sonata No.7 in C major

Francesco Mancini: Six Recorder Sonatas - performed by IJ SPACE, featuring Yi-Chang Liang (recorder), Machiko Suto (harpsichord), Asako Ueda (archlute) and Chia-Hua Chiang (baroque ‘cello). Claves CD1907

Mention the name Mancini to most people and they’ll probably think of Henry Mancini (composer of the Baby Elephant Walk and the Pink Panther theme) but his 18th century namesake is someone whose music every recorder player should explore. He was active as a teacher and composer in Naples, writing 29 operas plus a mixture of other vocal and instrumental work. His twelve recorder sonatas are beautiful works, composed so sympathetically for the instrument.

There are several recordings available of Mancini’s recorder sonatas, but this one captured my imagination with its fluidity and beautiful musical textures. Adding an archlute or theorbo to the continuo team is a stroke of genius and seems to make the music sparkle. Yi-Chang Liang is a beautiful player, adding his own exquisite ornamentation to enhance the melodic lines. I’d not come across him before, but he’s also a member of the Royal Wind Music and is evidently someone to watch.

If you don’t already know the Mancini recorder sonatas (and even if you do, for that matter!) I recommend exploring the whole of Yi-Chang Liang’s album as I’m sure you’ll find lots to inspire you. You can find a playlist containing all the tracks here.

Dick Koomans - The Jogger

Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet - Pictured Air. Channel CCS8996

It’s almost thirty years since Dick Koomans composed The Jogger for the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet, and in that time it’s become a classic of the recorder quartet repertoire. I remember hearing them perform it in a recital at the Wigmore Hall as a teenager and I was blown away by the sheer energy of the music. This performance is quirky combination of live performance and pop video. We see Bertho Driver, one of the quartet members, frantically running through the streets, pulling a large case (presumably full of recorders) behind him as he dashes for the tram. You can sense his heart pounding through the music, ending with a flourish of Bach and a moment of total collapse.

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer - Sonata à 7

The Royal Wind Music - Alla dolce ombra’ Lindoro MPC0712

The Schmelzer Sonata is a rarity in the recorder consort repertoire - a piece originally composed specifically for recorder consort from the Baroque era. The instrument was a popular choice for solo and chamber music, but for some reason few composers of this period chose to write consort music. Of course, there’s lots of Baroque repertoire we can play if we don’t mind borrowing from other instruments, but there’s a satisfaction to be had from performing music composed with our instrument in mind.

This Sonata is always a popular choice with ensembles, although I’ve heard many a consort come to grief in the central section, with its unpredictable fugal entries. This performance, by The Royal Wind Music, is particularly lovely - played at both four foot and eight foot pitch, in a warm, resonant acoustic. If you’ve never played the Schmelzer yourself and this whets your appetite, I made a consort video of it back in August 2020 which you can find here, along with the music. You’re very welcome to round up six friends to join you, or just play along with me!

Michael Nyman - If from The Diary of Anne Frank

Echoing Voices - Andrea Ritter (recorders) & Daniel Koschitski (piano). ARS Produktion ARS38098

The diary written by Anne Frank during her time spent in hiding from Nazi persecution between 1942 and 1944 has inspired a vast number of films and documentaries, but until this week I hadn’t come across the animated film made in Japan in 1995. The music for it was composed by Michael Nyman, including this song, If, which has been recorded in countless different ways, both instrumental and vocal.

In this particular recording we hear Andrea Ritter playing the vocal line on the bass recorder, accompanied at the piano by Daniel Koschitzki, who you may also have come across as a recorder player in the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet. I defy you not to be moved by this heartbreakingly beautiful melody.

J.S. Bach Organ Sonata No.6 in G major, BWV530

Piracy: Baroque Music Stolen for the Recorder - Genevieve Lacey (recorders) & Linda Kent (harpsichord & chamber organ) ABC Classics 28948171293

Borrowing music from other instruments is something we do all the time to supplement the recorder’s repertoire and this particular piece is one I’ve played myself. Bach composed six organ sonatas in the late 1720s. Some of the movements are reworkings of earlier music (often taken from his many cantatas), but No.6 is the one work in the collection where he started completely afresh. In its original form, Bach writes three melodic lines - one for the organist’s right hand, the second for the left and the lowest voice for the pedals - and they’re all equally important. From that perspective they are ripe for transcription and this Sonata works particularly well when the right hand line is played on the recorder, leaving the keyboard player just two voices to cope with - quite enough for most mere mortals!

In this beautiful recording the Australian recorder player Genevieve Lacey pairs a tenor recorder with a Baroque chamber organ (played by Linda Kent) and this subtle pairing means it’s tricky at times to know where the voice of the recorder ends and the organ begins - they’re just perfectly matched.

J.S. Bach - Orchestral Suite No.3 - Ouverture

Orchestral Suites Nos.1-4: Ton Koopman & Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra Deutsche HM G010003033955W

While my Sounding Pipes playlists are always predominantly going to feature the recorder, sometimes I like to include other mediums, especially if there’s a connection to the other resources I share with you. My consort for this week was the Rondeau from Bach’s 2nd Orchestral Suite and in my accompanying Hints & Tips video I suggest you get into the habit of listening to good recordings of music to gain a better insight into the type of articulation and phrasing used for Baroque music. I couldn’t resist sharing such a recording here and I plumped for the Ouverture from Bach’s 3rd Orchestral Suite - my favourite of the four. This is one of Bach’s most extravagant pieces of orchestral music, featuring oboes, bassoon, trumpets and timpani alongside the strings, but the performance practices used are just the same as in the smaller scale music we play on the recorder.

While reading about the Suites I was interested to learn that Bach probably added the wind instruments later to enhance his string writing. When deciding which recording to share here I found I was too attached to the richer orchestral sound, but if you’re intrigued to hear Bach’s pared down original you can find it here, directed by Lars Ulrich Mortensen.

If you enjoyed playing the Rondeau I shared over on my Consorts page, you can listen to the original version for flute and strings here and, just for good measure, all four Orchestral Suites can be found here! You can never have too much Bach….

The Fool on the Hill

Tali Rubinstein - recorders

It’s become something of a tradition for me to share a more lighthearted piece in each of my Sounding Pipes playlists and this fun video by Tali Rubinstein immediately caught my attention when it was suggested to me by the YouTube algorithm. Long time readers will know I’m a fan of The Beatles, and Paul McCartney plays the recorder in their original version of this song. If you want a quirky fact to share with friends (who knows, it might come in handy in a pub quiz one day too…), he was taught to play the recorder by Margaret Asher, mother of actor Jane Asher, when he lodged with the family in the early 1960s. To this day he often uses the instrument in his solo albums.

Tali Rubinstein’s recording of The Fool on the Hill has clear echoes of The Beatles’ original, but she adds her own virtuosic flair, even sneaking in a snippet of Here Comes the Sun along the way. Whether this is your favourite sort of music or not, I defy you not to be smiling by the time you reach the end!

So there you have edition five of Sounding Pipes - hopefully you found some inspiration and entertainment along the way. If you’ve discovered some recorder shaped gems through your own musical explorations do share them in the comments below so we can all share the enjoyment!

Sounding Pipes Edition 4

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

Telemann, Corelli & Bach Chamber Music - Emelie Roos (recorder), Anna Paradiso (harpsichord), Dan Laurin (recorder) and Höör Barock BIS2235

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

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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

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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:

1. All technology used must have no cost associated with their use (hence the 30 second limit)

2. All instruments used must be acoustic only and preferably designed to be used by children

3. 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!

Sounding Pipes, Edition 3

As we approach the Christmas holiday I thought I’d share another of my occasional recorder playlists for you to explore. Once again, I’ve spent some time exploring my own CD collection for inspiration, as well as noting some of the gems YouTube and my various music streaming services spontaneously offer up to me.

As you already know, I enjoy an eclectic mix of music and while all of my recommendations today include the recorder, some of them aren’t necessarily repertoire you might immediately associate with our favourite instrument! There should be something for everyone and hopefully these tracks may inspire you to explore further to widen your own listening habits.

Happy listening!

John Dowland - Lachrimae Pavan (Flow my Tears)

The Flautadors Recorder Quartet - Cynthia's Revels (First Hand 2015)

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You may well be familiar with John Dowland’s melancholic lute song, Flow my Tears, or perhaps his consort version, Lachrimae Pavan. This achingly beautiful melody became very well known and has been used in compositions by countless other composers. Jacob van Eyck wrote two sets of variations upon the melody which were published in his collection Der Fluyten Lusthof in 1644. One can imagine how doleful they must have sounded, echoing off the walls of Utrecht Cathedral as van Eyck played them to passersby in the churchyard. In this beautiful recording The Flautadors have chosen to combine Dowland’s music with van Eyck’s divisions, creating a weaving line above the sonorous harmonies.

Colin Touchin - Manchester Welcome

Three Teacher's Recorder Orchestra, conducted by Colin Touchin, 2008.

The death of Colin Touchin this autumn was a sad moment for the recorder world and I wanted to share one of his pieces with you to remember him. Colin was a friend and mentor to me for many years, and well known in the recorder world for both his compositions and conducting. I worked with Colin for nearly a decade as part of the tutoring team for the National Youth Recorder Orchestra and learnt a lot from his precise and economical conducting style. Watching this video reminded me of some the conducting techniques I learnt from Colin. All conductors ‘borrow’ ideas from each other and I fondly recall a moment in a rehearsal where Colin commented that the tenors missed their entry because he hadn’t twitched his elbow. We all chuckled, thinking that was preposterous, but when he gave a twitch on the second try they miraculously came in, bang on time! That taught me an important lesson about the importance of clear gestures when conducting and I’ll miss the opportunity to learn more from Colin in the future.

Manchester Welcome was the second time Colin had composed a piece for a Society of Recorder Players national festival. The first piece, Staffordshire Festival, came in 1991 and had no contrabass part because such large instruments were still relatively rare then. Fast forward to 2003 and we had a vast hall of players, including a phalanx of contras and Colin was able to make use of these enlarged forces to create a full scale orchestral piece. The excitement was palpable, enhanced by the fact that we were playing in the hall of the Manchester school where Colin had learnt the recorder as a youngster.

J.S.Bach / Benedetto Marcello Oboe Concerto BWV 974

Simon Borutzki, Lea Rahel Bader, Magnus Andersson & Laute Clemens Flick - Bach all’ italiano (Klanglogo 2016)

I first encountered Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D minor as a teenager, when a college friend of mine performed it in a concert, and its haunting melody has been a firm favourite ever since. the film director Sydney Pollack was evidently a fan too, as it appears in the soundtrack of his film The Firm - a solitary piece of orchestral music in a score that’s otherwise entirely played on the piano.

Even in the 18th century, Marcello’s music was already being borrowed for other purposes. J.S.Bach chose several concertos by Italian composers and arranged them for solo harpsichord. It’s this version which German recorder player Simon Borutzki has used to create his own interpretation for recorder. You may recall we saw also Simon in action in my last Sounding Pipes playlist, conducting the Berlin Recorder Orchestra in a Rossini Overture.

Lennox Berkeley Sonatina

Jill Kemp & Aleksander Szram - English Recorder Works (Music & Media 2013)

We take the recorder’s huge repertoire of contemporary music for granted these days, but during the early days of the instrument’s revival new works were hard to come by. In 1938 one of Edgar Hunt’s recorder students, Manuel Jacobs, wrote the following in an article in the Musical Times under the pen name Terpander:

“It cannot be too much insisted that if the health and strength of the present recorder revival is to be maintained, the revival itself must be recognised as essentially a contemporary phenomenon and contemporary music must be written for it. Seen and treated purely as an object of antiquarian interest, it will die the speedy death that all movements which reply too exclusively and too morbidly on the past and its associations deserve to die. Actually the recorder is less remarkable for its ‘antiquity’ than for the accommodating way it fits into its 20th century surroundings.”

Jacobs was obviously a very persuasive character and his efforts resulted in works for the recorder by many young composers of the day, including Lennox Berkeley, Stanley Bate, Christian Darnton, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Eve Kisch, Walter Leigh, Peter Pope, Alan Rawsthorne and Franz Reisenstein. Many of these works are still in print today, although some have aged better than others.

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Lennox Berkeley composing at the piano

Lennox Berkeley’s Sonatina received an informal first performance by Carl Dolmetsch at the London Contemporary Music Centre in June 1939, just twenty years after Arnold Dolmetsch made the first modern recorder. Earlier in 1939 Dolmetsch gave the first of his Wigmore Hall recitals and, frustrated by the dearth of modern music, he composed a Theme and Variations of his own to fill this gap in the programme.

At his second recital there, in November 1939, the Berkeley took pride of place in the concert, receiving its public premiere, starting a pattern Dolmetsch would continue for five decades. At his annual Wigmore Hall recital, Dolmetsch would perform newly composed repertoire - some 32 pieces in all. I went to his final recital at the Wigmore Hall in October 1989, where he premiered Variants on a Tune of HH - a reference to the composer Herbert Howells.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Berkeley’s Sonatina. It may be one of the earliest 20th century works for recorder, but it’s stood test of time and remains a great piece of music. There may be moments which show a less than perfect understanding of the instrument (top F sharps and occasional unsympathetic chromatic passages) but I think we can forgive these at a time when the recorder’s capabilities weren’t yet well understood. I’ve shared the first movement below, but you can listen to the whole work, along with other works by Malcolm Arnold, Gordon Jacob and York Bowen here.

Guus Haverkate - The Marmalade Cat

Tom Beets & Recorders Incorporated

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Photo by Helen Hooker

Just this week I reviewed The Marmalade Cat for The Recorder Magazine so it was fresh in my mind when I started writing today. Haverkate is a composer you may well have come across, either through his other ensemble repertoire, or perhaps his modern studies for recorder. His music often has a pictorial quality, conjuring up mental images of an ongoing storyline. The laid back big band jazz style of The Marmalade Cat makes me think of a larger than life ginger tom cat sauntering along the street on a warm day, stopping occasionally for a wash and a spot of relaxation time in the sun.

Tom Beets recorded this performance with his orchestra, Recorders Incorporated, in Wells in January 2020 and I just love its laid back feel and Tom’s relaxed conducting style. Grab a cuppa, turn up the volume, sit back and enjoy some chilled out recorder jazz!

John Williams - The Cantina Band from Star Wars

Orlan Charles

My final choice today should put a spring in your step, although I must warn you may be humming the tune for days! This is one of those videos thrown up for me by YouTube and it immediately made me smile. Orlan Charles is a Brazilian recorder player and flautist who performs a huge variety of music, as well as arranging for many different types of ensemble. This arrangement of the Cantina Band music from Star Wars is one he recorded four years ago and it showcases his recorder playing, body percussion and some choreography too. As someone who spends a lot of time creating multitrack videos I can’t help feeling I need to raise my game after watching this!

So there you have six pieces to entertain and inspire you - some serious, some much less so! I hope you enjoyed them - drop a comment below to let me know which one’s your favourite. While you’re doing that, why not let me have any suggestions for future editions of Sounding Pipes. Perhaps you want more recorder orchestra music or repertoire from a particular period? I’m open to ideas and I’m all ears!