january 2005 - american recorder
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IN STOCK (Partial listing)____ARCHIPELAGO Alison Melville, recorder &traverso. Sonatas & concerti by Hotteterre, Stanley,Bach, Boismortier and others. $17 ARS/$20 others.____ARLECCHINO: SONATAS AND BALLETTI OF J. H. SCHMELZER Ensemble Caprice Stuttgart.Matthias Maute & Sophie Larivière, recorders;Michael Spengler, gamba; Maria Grossman, harpsi-chord. Works by Schmelzer, Muffat, Vitali. AntesEdition. $17 ARS/$20 others.____ BACH: MUSIC TO CHALLENGE THEINTELLECT AND TOUCH THE HEART CarolinaBaroque, Dale Higbee, recorders. Cantata No. 21,Part One; Cantata No. 182. $17 ARS/$20 others.____ BACH & HANDEL: BAROQUE MASTERSCarolina Baroque. Dale Higbee, recorders.Excerpts from several operas and cantatas,recorded in 2002 concert. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____BLOCKFLOETENENSEMBLE WIENIrmtraut Freiberg, Karin Heinisch, Susanne Jurdak,Eva Maria Kaukal & Prisca Loeffler, recorders.Ensemble works by Demantius, Monteverdi,Morley, Mozart, Schermann, Kaeser, W. W. van Nieuwkerk, Pachelbel, Reichard. $17 ARS/$20 others.____CHARLESTON PRO MUSICA ON TOURMarsha Evans, Lewis Fitch & others, recorders,gemshorns, guitar and voice. Medieval andRenaissance music with consort and singers.Millennium Music/ Charleston SC. $17 ARS/$20 others.____A. CORELLI Ensemble Caprice Stuttgart.Matthias Maute & Sophie Larivière, recorders;Michael Spengler, viola da gamba; MariaGrossman, claviorganum. Works by Corelli &Kuhnau. Antes Edition. $17 ARS/$20 others.____DREAMS INSIDE THE AIR TUNNELZana Clarke, recorder & composer. “Drawing on themusic of the didjeridu & shakuhachi...beautiful &hypnotic...”—American Recorder. Orpheus Music.$17 ARS/$20 others.____ENSEMBLE PIACERE 2002 EnsemblePiacere, Irmtraut Freiberg, Eva Maria Kaukel,recorders. Sparkling performances of works fromthe Renaissance to the 20th century byFrescobaldi, Ortiz, Telemann, Fux, Keil and manyothers. Ensemble Piacere. $17 ARS/$20 others.____FOLIAS FESTIVAS Cléa Galhano, recorders;Belladonna. 16-17th-century music by Falconieri, deTafalla, Merula, others. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others.____FRUIT OF A DIFFERENT VINE AlisonMelville, Natalie Michaud & Colin Savage,recorders; A. Hall, piano. Works by Hindemith,Berkeley, Leigh, Staeps. 1994 ARS ProfessionalRecording Grant CD. S.R.I. $17 ARS/$20 others.____THE GREAT EMU WAR Batalla Famossa, ayoung ensemble, with first CD of Australianrecorder music. Orpheus. $17 ARS/$20 others.____THE GREAT MR. HANDEL Carolina Baroque,Dale Higbee, recorders. Sacred and secular musicby Handel. Live recording. $17 ARS/$20 others.____HANDEL: THE ITALIAN YEARS ElissaBerardi, recorder & Baroque flute; PhilomelBaroque Orchestra. Handel, Nel dolce dell’oblio &Tra le fiamme, two important pieces for obbligatorecorder & soprano; Telemann, Trio in F; Vivaldi,All’ombra di sospetto. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others.____IMAGINE II David Young, recorders. More con-temporary interpretations of classic songs from the1970s by Neil Young, Jim Croce, Carole King, and
Moody Blues. Universe Music. $17 ARS/$20 others.
____JOURNEY Wood’N’Flutes, Vicki Boeckman,Gertie Johnsson & Pia Brinch Jensen, recorders.Works by Dufay, Machaut, Henry VIII, MogensPederson, W.W. Van Nieuwkerk & Maute—sevencenturies. Kadanza Classics. $17 ARS/$20 others.____A JOURNEY AMONG TRAVELLERS(CD SHORT) Peter Bowman & Kathryn Bennettsperform Donald Bousted’s 26-minute quarter-tonalpiece for two alto recorders, which had its U.S. premiere at the 1998 Berkeley Festival. $12 ARS/$14 others.____LANDSCAPES David Bellugi, recorders; AliTajbakhsh & Chris Hayward, percussion. “Virtual”recorder orchestra created by Bellugi. Three centuriesof ethnic music by Encina, Brouwer, Ortiz, Bartok.Frame. $17 ARS/$20 others.____LES AMIS DU BAROQUE Paul Nauta, recorder& Baroque flute; Koen Dieltiens, recorder. Music byBassani, Corelli, Vivaldi, etc. Highlight Intl. $17 ARS/$20 others.____MANCINI: CONCERTI DI CAMERA JudithLinsenberg, recorders; Musica Pacifica. SevenMancini sonatas, plus works of Durante, D. Scarlatti.“Highly recommended” citation, 2000 Vivaldi Prize,Giorgio Cini Foundation. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others.____MIDNIGHT SUN Alison Melville & Colin Savage,recorders; Ensemble Polaris. New arrangements oftraditional music of Norway, Finland, Estonia, Sweden,Scotland. Classic CD Disc of the Month, August 2000.Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others.____MUSIC FOR A WINTER’S EVE, BringingLight to the Darkness. Eileen Hadidian, recorder &Baroque flute, with voice, violin, viola da gamba &Celtic harp. Traditional, Renaissance and Medievalsongs to celebrate midwinter and the changing ofthe seasons. Healing Muses. $17 ARS/$20 others.____MY THING IS MY OWN: BAWDY MUSIC OFTHOMAS D’URFEY Tina Chancey, Grant Herreid &Scott Reiss, recorders & other early instruments;Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano. Improvisations ontunes of love, sex & seduction in 18th-centuryEngland. Koch Int’l. $17 ARS/$20 others.____PRIEST ON THE RUN Piers Adams, recorders.Concerti composed by the ensemble’s namesake,flame-haired Vivaldi. Upbeat. $17 ARS/$20 others.____RECORDER JAZZ Warren Kime, recorder.Original jazz charts with a great groove.$17 ARS/$20 others.____REFLECTIONS, Music to Soothe and Upliftthe Spirit. Eileen Hadidian, recorder & Baroqueflute, with Celtic harp and ’cello. Celtic, traditional,Renaissance & Medieval melodies. Healing Muses.$17 ARS/$20 others.____ SACRED & SECULAR CANTATAS OF J. S.BACH. Carolina Baroque. Dale Higbee, recorders.Live performances of three cantatas, BWV 82a,BWV 202, BWV 209. $17 ARS/$20 others.____SAMMARTINI: SONATAS & CONCERTOS FORFLUTE Ensemble Caprice & Rebel. Matthias Maute& Sophie Larivière, recorders & traverso. Extendedconcertos and sonatas by Sammartini & Maute.Atma Classique. $17 ARS/$20 others.____A. SCARLATTI: CONCERTI DI CAMERA JudithLinsenberg, recorders; Musica Pacifica. Seven sona-tas, various instrumentations. $17 ARS/$20 others.____LES SEPT SAUTS: Baroque Chamber Musicat the Stuttgart Court. Matthias Maute & SophieLarivière, recorders & traverso; Ensemble Caprice.Charming repertoire by Schwartzkopff, Bodino,Detri. Atma Classique. $17 ARS/$20 others.
____SOLO,DOUBLE & TRIPLECONCERTOS OF BACH & TELEMANNCarolina Baroque, Dale Higbee, recorders. 2-CD set, recorded live. $24 ARS/$28 others.____SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW JohnTyson, recorders, with Renaissonics. Baroque & con-temporary music. Titanic. $17 ARS/$20 others.____SONGS IN THE GROUND Cléa Galhano, recorder, Vivian Montgomery, harpsichord. Songsbased on grounds by Pandolfi, Belanzanni, Vitali,Bach, others. 10,000 Lakes. $17 ARS/$20 others.____SWEET FOLLIA, THE RECORDER ON TWOCONTINENTS Ensemble Caprice. Matthias Maute & Sophie Larivière, recorders. Selections by Purcell, Morley, Maute, Couperin, Van Eyck, others.Atma Classique. $17 ARS/$20 others.____TELEMANN ALLA POLACCA REBEL MatthiasMaute, recorders & traverso, play concerti and suitesby G.P. Telemann. . $17 ARS/$20 others.____TELEMANN: CHAMBER CANTATAS & TRIOSONATAS Judith Linsenberg, recorders; MusicaPacifica. Five cantatas of Harmonischer Gottes-dienst, two trio sonatas from Sonatas Corellisantes.2003 Chamber Music America/ WQXR RecordAward. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others.____TELEMANN: DUOS POUR FLUTES,Ensemble Caprice. Matthias Maute & SophieLarivière, recorders & transverse flute, AlexanderWeimann, clavichord. Six Telemann duos &sonatas alternate with five fantasies for clavichordby Maute. Atma Classique. $17 ARS/$20 others.____TRIO ATLANTICA Lisette Kielson, recorders.Works by Bach, Telemann, Montéclair, Leclair. TrioAtlantica. $17 ARS/$20 others.____20TH CENTURY MUSIC FOR RECORDER &PIANO Anita Randolfi, recorders. Music by Jacob,Bartok, Leigh, others for recorder & piano. $17ARS/$20 others.____ VIVALDI: LA NOTTE Concerti per strumentidiversi. Judith Linsenberg, recorder; Musica Pacif-ica. Award-winning CD, featuring five Vivaldi con-certi, two sonatas. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others.____VON PARIS NACH WIEN Duo CapriceStuttgart. Matthias Maute, recorder & MichaelSpengler, gamba. Works from Paris to Vienna byRameau, Satie, Maute, J. Haydn, Chopin, others.Antes Edition. $17 ARS/$20 others.
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FEATURESRecorder Day! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Get ready to celebrate by playing the recorder during March
Dreams That Dance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16An interview with jazz recorder player and drummer Eddie Marshall by Frances Feldon
DEPARTMENTS
Advertiser Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapters & Consorts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Music Reviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
On the Cutting Edge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Opening Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Tidings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Pete Rose to receive ARS Distinguished Achievement Award;
New York Early Music Celebration; early music at the
American Musicological Society; East Bay Junior Recorder Society
ON THE COVER:Cover Art by
Philip Celestee-mail <philipc
[email protected]>©2005
Philip Celeste
Volume XLVI, Number 1 January 2005
GAIL NICKLESS, Editor
Contributing EditorsFRANCES BLAKER, Beginners; JOHN H. BURKHALTER III, Book ReviewsTHOMAS CIRTIN, Compact Disc Reviews; JODY L. MILLER, Education
CONSTANCE M. PRIMUS, Music Reviews; CAROLYN PESKIN, Q & ATIMOTHY BROEGE, 20th-Century Performance
LISA SCHMIDT, Design Consultant
Advisory BoardMartha Bixler • Valerie Horst • David Lasocki
Bob Marvin • Howard Schott • Thomas Prescott • Catherine TurocyKenneth Wollitz
Copyright © 2005 American Recorder Society, Inc.
Visit AR On-Line at <www.recorderonline.org>American Recorder (ISSN: 0003-0724), 1129 Ruth Dr., St. Louis, MO 63122-1019, is published bimonthly (January, March, May, September, andNovember) for its members by the American Recorder Society, Inc. $20 of the annual $40 U.S. membership dues in the American Recorder Society is for asubscription to American Recorder. Articles, reviews and letters to the editor reflect the viewpoint of their individual authors. Their appearance in this magazinedoes not imply official endorsement by the ARS. Submission of articles and photographs is welcomed. Articles may be typed or submitted on PC discs (Wordfor Windows 95, or RTF preferred), or as an attachment to or text in an e-mail message. They should be for the exclusive consideration of AR, unless otherwisenoted. Photos may be sent as color or black-and-white prints, or 300dpi TIF files. Advertisements may be sent in PDF or EPS format, with fonts embedded.
Editorial office: Gail Nickless, Editor, American Recorder, 7770 South High St., Centennial, CO 80122; 303-794-0114 (phone & fax);<[email protected]>. Deadlines for editorial material: November 15 (January), January 15 (March), March 15 (May), July 15 (September), andSeptember 15 (November). Books for review: Editorial office. Music for review: Constance M. Primus, Box 608, 1097 Main St., Georgetown, CO 80444.Recordings for review: Thomas Cirtin, 8128 N. Armstrong Chapel Road, Otterbein, IN 47970. Cutting Edge: Tim Broege, 212 Second Ave., Bradley Beach,NJ 07720-1159. Chapter newsletters and other reports: Editorial office. Advertising: Steve DiLauro, LaRich & Associates, Inc., 15300 Pearl Road, Suite 112,Strongsville, OH 44136-5036; 440-238-5577; 440-572-2976 (fax); <[email protected]>. Advertising Closings: December 1 (January),February 1 (March), April 1 (May), August 1 (September), and October 1 (November). Postmaster: Send address changes to American Recorder Society, 1129Ruth Drive, St. Louis, MO 63122-1019. Periodicals postage paid at St. Louis, MO, and at an additional mailing office.
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The image in my mind of the concertplaces it sometime in the 1970s. It was
a small venue, and we were close enoughto see the sweat on the faces of the performers, soft-rock group Loggins &Messina (Your Mama Don’t Dance, House atPooh Corner). Even though the name of thegroup’s wind sideman long ago left mymemory, I still remember his playing—especially when he played two recorderssimultaneously (an alto and a tenor, as I recall). I was pursuing a degree in modernflute and didn’t play recorders then. Thesound of those recorders, coupled with hisadvanced facility and florid improvisations(even using only “left hand” notes), wasjust the right effect for that music.
A few others were playing jazz and pop recorder by that time, including Eddie Marshall. Frances Feldon’s long-standing interest in those musical styleshas spurred her to perform them onrecorder herself (see the September 2004AR coverage of events that took place lastsummer in Berkeley, CA). She talks withEddie (page 16) in the first of her series of interviews with performers who have ven-tured to take their recorders onto the popular music stage.
It’s time now to plan for two upcomingevents: Play-the-Recorder Month inMarch, and the Boston Early Music Festival in June. A musical gift from thelate David Goldstein may be played onRecorder Day! or whenever membershave an opportunity during March (page12). Pete Rose is the next very deservingrecipient of the ARS DistinguishedAchievement Award, and is set to receivethat award during BEMF (page 4).
Several members’ writings help toround out the reporting in this issue.Mark Davenport and Nancy Hathawaydescribe early music events last fall onboth coasts—in Seattle as part of theAmerican Musicological Society gathering(page 6) and during a New York City cele-bration in October (page 10). SheilaNewbery profiles the musical success ofthe East Bay Junior Recorder Society(page 8). Others share opinions of books(page 22) and music (page 29), withrecorder playing in mind.
Gail Nickless
EDITOR’SNOTE______________________________
6 American Recorder
AMERICANRECORDER
SOCIETYINC.
Honorary PresidentERICH KATZ (1900-1973)Honorary Vice President
WINIFRED JAEGER
Statement of PurposeThe mission of the American Recorder Society is
to promote the recorder and its music bydeveloping resources and standards to help
people of all ages and ability levels to play andstudy the recorder, presenting the instrumentto new constituencies, encouraging increasedcareer opportunities for professional recorderperformers and teachers, and enabling and
supporting recorder playing as a shared social experience. Besides this journal,
ARS publishes a newsletter, a personal studyprogram, a directory, and special musicaleditions. Society members gather and playtogether at chapter meetings, weekend and
summer workshops, and many ARS-sponsoredevents throughout the year. In 2000, the
Society entered its seventh decade ofservice to its constituents.
Board of DirectorsAlan Karass, President
Sue Roessel, Vice President; Co-Chair, Membership Marilyn Perlmutter, Secretary
Ann Stickney, Treasurer; Chair, FinanceJohn Nelson, Asst. Secretary; Chair, Scholarships
Kathy Cochran, Asst. TreasurerRebecca Arkenberg, Chair, PublicationsLetitia Berlin, Co-Chair, Membership
Frances Blaker, Chair, Special Events/Professional Outreach
Richard Carbone, Chair, Chapters & ConsortsMark Davenport, Chair, Education
Amanda Pond
StaffKathy Sherrick, Administrative Director
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Please contact the ARS officeto update chapter listings.
ARS Chapters
January 2005 7
tion, that is one way toexperience the musicmore authentically(although you shouldbe prepared for a challenge).
The nice thingabout recorder play-ing is that the HIPworld is very accessible to those who playrecorder. But, even without HIP aware-ness, we can still experience great music.
HIP trends have energized the earlymusic field and expanded the ways inwhich many listeners and performers ex-perience music. However, I truly believethat there are numerous appropriate waysto play most pieces of music, and playthem well. Most of us—whether we areamateurs, professionals or aficionados—have an innate sense of what makes musicappealing and what doesn’t.
There is a Duke Ellington quote that,in my opinion, summarizes the goal of anytype of performance: “If it sounds good, itis good.”
Wishing you a happy and musicalNew Year,
Alan Karass, ARS President<[email protected]>
PRESIDENT’SMESSAGE___________________________________
As a recorder player, for years I’ve been intrigued by the concept of
historically informed performance (HIP). I like the way that Altramar describes
HIP on their web site, <www.indiana.edu/~altramar/altwhat.html>:“… a conviction that playing the music ina fashion sensitive to the original perform-ance situation can give us insights into thepeople, and thinking/working on the details of the original performance situa-tion can give us insights into the music.”
During the past two decades, interestand research in historically informed per-formance has increased tremendously. Inorder to produce a HIP performance, musicians may consult theory or instruc-tion manuals written during the time apiece was written, read accounts of performances, or look at paintings or engravings that depict performances.Sometimes, the manuscripts themselvesprovide clues.
In a recent issue of Early Music Per-former, there is a guest editorial by CliveBrown that discusses some important is-sues in the HIP movement, such as the re-lated commercial market, models for re-search, and funding.
HIP is not limited to Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music. There arenumerous HIP performances of music byMozart, Beethoven symphonies, and masterpieces by 19th-century composers.According to the definition above, virtual-ly any piece of music can be played in a historically informed fashion, if we knowsomething about the original performancesituation.
What does being HIP mean for the av-erage amateur recorder player? Well, thatdepends.
If you go shopping for a recording ofBach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 and arereally looking forward to hearing somegood recorder playing, you’ll need to besure that the recording is HIP enough touse recorders, not modern flutes. One ofthe first CDs that I bought of this work fea-tured a nationally-known ensemble—
with flutes playing the recorder parts. I wasthoroughly disappointed.
If you are playing Hotteterre or Quantzduets, you might want to read treatises bythose historical figures to understand theirapproaches to music and performance
(good English translations are available).You can also ask recorder professionals orteachers about their understanding of HIPpractices for the pieces in which you are in-terested. There are many facsimile editionscommercially available.
If you’ve never played from early nota-
The joys of HIP-ness
Early Music America Magazine is the quarterlypublication for the Early Music Community inNorth America: Professionals, Students, andAudience members.
Articles on performance practice, trends in thefield, recording reviews, and a new book reviewsdepartment.
Call 888-722-5288 or email [email protected] a FREE sample issue.
HIP trends have energized the early music field and expanded the ways in whichmany listeners and performersexperience music.
At its September 2004 meeting, the ARSBoard accepted a committee recommen-dation to present the ARS DistinguishedAchievement Award (DAA) to Pete Rose.This award was established by the Boardin 1986 to recognize and honor individu-als who have made extraordinary contri-butions to the development of therecorder movement in North America.
Rose is hailed as one of North Ameri-ca’s leading composers and performers ofcontemporary recorder music. His workshave received worldwide acclaim and havebeen published by Universal Edition,Moeck, Carus-Verlag and Ricordi. He hasgiven numerous recitals in the U.S. and
Europe, many of them featuring a varietyof contemporary written and improvisedworks for the recorder. He has won criticalacclaim for his interpretation of works thatinvolve microtonality, circular breathingand jazz elements.
Rose has also served as columnist, crit-ic and contributing editor for AmericanRecorder, and has written articles for theGerman woodwind magazine Tibia. Hehas been a regular faculty member of theAmherst Early Music Festival, and has given many master classes in the U.S. andEurope, as well as being an active leader ofARS chapter meetings.
He joins the ranks of past DAA recipi-ents Friedrich von Huene, Bernard Krainis, Shelley Gruskin, Nobuo Toyama,LaNoue Davenport, Martha Bixler, Edgar
Hunt, Eugene Reichenthal, Frans Brüggenand Valerie Horst.
The DAA ceremony and reception willbe held during the Boston Early Music Fes-tival in June. Details will be provided inthe March issue of American Recorder.
More information on Rose and his accomplishments are available on his website, <www.peteroserecorder.com>.
(The ARS has available a video of Rose in a live recital performance, which also includes an interview about how he startedplaying the recorder, what he looks for inchoosing music for a recital, and more. It issent out on free loan, with a $10 deposit to assure prompt return. Please write to theARS office, specifying when you would like toview the videotape and whether you will viewit in regular or HiFi VHS format.)
Pete Rose to be awardedARS DistinguishedAchievement Award
8 American Recorder
TIDINGS___________________________________Early music happenings in New York City and
Seattle, young recorder players make their mark
The schedule for the 2005 Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) includes several recorder events, in addition to events that will be sponsored by ARS (mentioned briefly in this issue of the ARS Newsletter).
The theme of the 2005 BEMF is “East Meets West—Germany, Russia and the Baltic States: Music from the Maritime World of Northern Europe.” At the center of the week’s performances is the world premiere of Johann Mattheson’s 1710 opera BorisGoudenow—not to be confused with the 19th-century opera by Modest Mussorgsky about Boris, czar of Russia from 1598 to 1605whose story was dramatized by Alexander Pushkin. This earlier opera is based on scores of Boris and other Mattheson compositionsuncovered in 1998 in Armenia, where some collections of music by major German Baroque composers were taken for safety duringWorld War II.
The reconstructed opera score includes a continuo orchestra with oboists doubling on recorders. Those parts will be played byWashington McClain, Geoffrey Burgess and Kathryn Montoya. Under the leadership of BEMF directors Paul O’Dette andStephen Stubbs, a familiar cast will be augmented by new singers—including Russian bass Vadim Kravets in the title role ofBoris—and joined by Baroque dancers and a children’s chorus. Opera performances are set for the evenings of June 14, 16 and 18,with a matinee on June 19, at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston, MA.
To kick off the Festival week, a program of Dutch shanties will be performed by Camerata Trajectina. The period instrumentgroup from Utrecht, including recorder player Saskia Coolen, specializes in music of the Low Countries from the Middle Agesthrough the 17th century. Central to the work of the group are aspects of literary and cultural history, which are given a musical dimension in the group’s programs. Their BEMF performance is set for June 13 at 8 p.m. at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall in Boston.
Matthias Maute returns to BEMF as a one of three soloists performing with the BEMF “Boris” Orchestra on June 17 at 8 p.m. at Jordan Hall. The program for that evening was not set at press time, although it is known that the other soloists are violinist Giuliano Carmignola and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout. Maute will also lead a master class, with the date and time for that eventyet to be determined.
For more BEMF 2005 information or information about Festival tickets, visit <www.bemf.org> or call 617-661-1812.
Looking ahead to Boston Early Music Festival 2005
Pete Rose at the October 2004 premiere of his work MegaRONY during the New York Early Music Celebration. (Photo by Rebecca Arkenberg)
10 American Recorder
Early music is alive and well, as demon-strated by the high visibility and numberof early music activities during this year’sAmerican Musicological Society con-ference, held in Seattle, WA, November11-14. The recorder was featured or discussed in several of those events, and anumber of other important early music activities were organized in cooperationwith Early Music America (EMA). Theseactivities are the focus of this report.
The conference, jointly held this yearwith the Society for Music Theory, always features early music topics in itsdaily sessions: “Women and Music in Ear-ly Modern Europe”; “Medieval Composi-tional Methods”; “Sacred Spectacle in Me-dieval Tuscany”; “Rhetoric and Allegory inthe Baroque”; “Early Medieval Theory”;“Noise and Notation in Trouvère Music”;“Performers and Audiences in Renais-sance Florence”; and the list goes on.
I arrived in Seattle late on November11, and caught the end of EMA’s firstevening session, titled “Heresies and HearSays Revisited: Thoughts on InstrumentalPerformances of Untexted Parts andRepertories 1350-1550.” While I missedmost of the excitement of this paper ses-sion (moderated by Jeffery Kite-Powell), Idid attend a subsequent concert by Ciaramella, an early music ensemble thatput into practice the performance of untexted parts on instruments.
Ciaramella was first runner-up in the2003 EMA competition and recorded itsdébut CD in 2004. The group includesAdam and Rotem Gilbert (both alsomembers of Piffaro), Doug Milliken andDebra Nagy (all playing recorders orshawms), and Anna Levenstein, voice.All except Milliken are current or formerdoctoral students at Case Western ReserveUniversity, where Ross Duffin runs an out-standing early music program. The groupperformed an afternoon of music from theRenaissance manuscript, “Panciatichi 27”of Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze.
“Panciatichi 27” is a manuscript thatcomprises a number of texted and untexted pieces—ranging from severalspirited and dance-like anonymouspieces, to a beautiful vocal work byJosquin, to Heinrich Isaac’s popular A la
bataglia. Compared to the FlandersRecorder Quartet’s “live” version of theIsaac piece, which I happened to haveheard several nights before at Regis University in Denver, CO, the Ciaramellaperformance did not provide quite asmuch “battle.” The distinction was duepartly because of the choice of instru-ments used (Flanders Quartet played in arange an octave lower, with the bassrecorder on the top line; Ciaramella usedATTB), but also because of the lighter attack of Ciaramella vs. the frequent“chiffing” used by the Flanders group.
Still, Ciaramella’s recorder ensemblesound was balanced and impressive. Theanonymous piece Fortuna desperata wasparticularly successful, with sensitivephrasing and excellent intonation.
I loved the pieces played on shawms.The two slow anonymous magnificatswere gorgeous and Non desina was a lively,imitative and brilliant piece—perfect fordouble reeds. I was surprisingly less impressed with the sung pieces, althoughthat may have had to do with the fact thatthe group (at least on this afternoon) didnot seem as confident and relaxed with thetexted repertoire compared to the untexted pieces.
Regardless, Ciaramella’s performancewas a highlight of the day. There is nothinglike bringing the manuscripts to life—especially after a morning of musicologyand theory papers (as thought-provokingas they might be).
Later there was an open session hostedby EMA called “Singing from RenaissanceNotation.” The informal vocal gatheringwas conducted by EMA president ValerieHorst and was well-attended by about 40-50 participants. Horst’s commentarywas kept to a minimum, leaving as muchtime as possible for the actual singing—and everyone obliged, with two or threereadings of each piece. The hour-long session was friendly and cozy, aided bysome decent wine that circulated aroundthe room. Perhaps not coincidentally the
bass section, where I found myself,seemed to improve as the session wore on.
The evening was capped off with anEarly Music Guild performance by TheEnglish Concert, directed by AndrewManze and brilliantly performed. The concert included programmatic pieces bySchmelzer, Biber and Locatelli, but focused on three Vivaldi violin concertos,including the B minor Concerto (Opus 3 )for Four Violins—a wonderful crowd pleaser. Looking through the EMG program that evening, the English Concertwas just one of a number of outstandingpresentations offered this season. Othersinclude the viol sextet Fretwork, with Emma Kirkby (earlier in the year), and twoupcoming performances that prominentlyfeature the recorder—Red Priest (withPiers Adams) and Piffaro. I am certainly impressed with the early music activity inSeattle.
On Saturday afternoon, I attended asession for early music directors, alsohosted by EMA. This hour-long meetinghas become a regular feature at the AMSconference. The topic of this year’s ses-sion, moderated by Lyle Nordstrom of theUniversity of North Texas, was “Makingthe Case for an Early Music Ensemble atYour College or University.” About 20 peo-ple, mostly collegium directors, attended.
The session offered some good and insightful suggestions from the panelists,as well as thoughtful responses from theparticipants.
University and college early music ensembles seem to have particularly challenging hurdles, including: few, if any,early instruments; small or no budgets;colleagues who are not always happy toshare their students (usually classical instrumentalists or singers) with col-legium directors; many hours of extra contact and rehearsal time; and fluctuat-ing numbers of students that offer littlecontinuity from one semester to the next.
The picture was not all bleak, however,and there are a number of thriving col-legiums scattered around the country. Themore successful collegium directors findinnovative ways of developing interest andcontinuity in their programs. Some ofthese activities include combining earlymusic with outreach programs, collabo-
Early Music well-represented atAmerican Musicological Society 2004
Ciaramella’s performance
was a highlight of the day.
January 2005 11
rating with other departments (English,drama, dance or chapel services, for example); bringing in community members and guest artists/teachers; andfund-raising.
And, as Nordstrom pointed out, thereare certain advantages that early music ensembles have over larger choirs and orchestras. There is often more individualattention paid to students, since early music programming provides opportuni-ties to feature many—if not all—of theensemble members. There are also a lot ofextra educational opportunities in earlymusic ensembles, such as spending agreater amount of time working on performance practice, ornamentation andimprovisation.
The recorder, of course, often plays aprominent role in many of these ensem-
bles. Of all the early instruments, therecorder is still the most commonlyknown, especially since students usually begin to play the instrument in elementary school as part of a general introduction to music. Mary Natvig, whoteaches at Bowling Green State University,suggested incorporating the recorder in music education methods courses. Personally, I think this is one of the moreimportant and productive areas on which we should focus and, in fact, this isprecisely an area we are currently examin-ing in the ARS Education Committee.
All in all, the weekend provided somesuperb opportunities to discuss and listento early music, to catch up with colleaguesand friends, and to explore one of themore active early music scenes in the U.S.
EMA is to be commended for their
participation in this year’s AMS events.They are really helping to develop a livelyinterest in early music.
Mark Davenport
The Society of Recorder Players (SRP)and Moeck UK will again sponsor an international solo recorder competitionaimed at young players who aspire to aprofessional career in music. AdjudicatorsPaul Leenhouts, Pierre Hamon and IanWilson will choose finalists to perform ina public concert during the Greenwich International Festival of Early Music 2005.
Deadline for entries is February 4.Each applicant must submit a 30-minuteCD or cassette, demonstrating the per-former’s standard of playing over a widecross-section of the recorder repertoire.
In addition to cash prizes donated byMoeck UK, the SRP and the WalterBergmann Fund, the first prize winner willpresent a recital at the Greenwich Interna-tional Festival of Early Music 2006. For additional information, contact competition administrator Mary Tyers at <[email protected]>.
Recorder player Cléa Galhano per-formed in November 2004 as soloist withthe St. Paul (MN) Chamber Orchestra and also with the New World Symphony (Miami, FL), conducted by French harpsichordist/conductor EmmanuelleHaim.
Tom Bickley, composer/performer/teacher of recorder, used the Gregorianchant O Magnum Mysterium as the sourcefor a 50-minute meditation involvingrecorders, voice, electronics and environ-mental sound at Grace North Church inBerkeley, CA, in December.
Diverse Passions welcomed guestartist Rotem Gilbert of Renaissance bandPiffaro for its December concerts in Denver and Boulder, CO. The program, A Medieval Christmas, centered on the varied musical world of 14th-century Europe, including works by de Vitry,Machaut, Ciconia and Landini. DiversePassions members include Jennifer Spiel-man, soprano and plectrum lute; andMichael Lightner and Linda Lunbeck,recorders.
Lisette Kielson, recorderist withchamber group L’Ensemble Portique,collaborated with Matthew Tift, Universi-ty of Wisconsin-Madison musicologistand AIDS activist, to present Positive Music: Musical Responses to HIV/AIDS onDecember 4 in Madison, WI. Proceedsfrom the event went to AIDS Network ofMadison. Unlike other AIDS benefit con-certs featuring music that has little or noconnection to the crisis, this event pre-sented musical responses to HIV/AIDS.The program featured selections from theAIDS Quilt Songbook as well as three worldpremieres by Julie Niedziejko Branden-burg, Jens Joneleit and Dan Maske.
Tift presented a pre-concert lecturediscussing how the AIDS crisis has affect-ed music and musicians in the U.S. Following the performance, there was areception and silent auction of artworkcreated by Madison artists, including ablank canvas to be painted as an interpre-tive response to the musical performance.
Bits & Pieces Going for Baroque on Long IslandUnder artistic director Sonia GezairlianGrib, the Long Island (NY) BaroqueEnsemble is celebrating its 35th anniversary season in 2004-2005 withperformances in Smithtown and in Oyster Bay.
The October kickoff event, Anniver-sary Bash Concertos, included two worksfeaturing Rachel Begley on Baroque alto recorder—Telemann’s Concerto dicamera for recorder, two violins and con-tinuo (harpsichord, ’cello and violone),and Vivaldi’s Concerto in C major forrecorder, oboe, two violins and continuo.
Begley gave an eloquent and gracefulperformance of the Telemann work, play-ing with an overt emotional engagementthat commanded the audience’s full attention. She joined oboist VirginiaBrewer for the Vivaldi piece; the sound oftwo wind instruments complementedeach other quite effectively, as did the style and partnering of the two performers.
Other works on the program included a delightful offering by viola virtuoso Louise Schulman of the Tele-mann Concerto in G Major for viola,strings and continuo. The multifacetedJay Elfenbein, on viola da gamba, joined’cellist Christine Gummere for the Buxtehude Sonata in D Major. Otherplayers included violinists Anca Nicolauand Karl Kawahara, plus artistic directorGrib on harpsichord.
Nancy M. Tooney
Ciaramella members Adam and Rotem Gilbert(left) and Mahan Esfahani(right) with Doug Milliken and Debra Nagy, in a photo taken byRebecca Arkenberg after the group’s perform-ance in the October finals of EMA’s Medieval/Renaissance Performance Competition.
12 American Recorder
There is a bright spot in Berkeley, in thebleak landscape of California music
education: it’s the East Bay JuniorRecorder Society (EBJRS).
The group ranges from seven- andeight-year-old beginners to 16- and 17-year-old advanced players. On the face ofit, this fact may seem unremarkable—but the age and skill range is in itself a testimony to the strength and continuityof the program, which directors LetitiaBerlin, Louise Carslake and Hannekevan Proosdij have tirelessly cultivatedover the years, with the help and impetusof the East Bay Recorder Society (EBRS).
The EBJRS opens a window for manychildren onto a different sort of musicalpractice—different, that is, from the em-phasis on solo performance in much clas-sical musical instruction. The goal of themonthly EBJRS meetings is to introduceyoung players to the pleasures—and rigors—of ensemble playing. Being an intelligent ensemble member makes significant technical and social demandson the individual: one must learn and understand the varying roles one will playin a given repertoire, and one must striveto enhance the coherence of the whole bydeveloping musical awareness of others(easier said than done, at any age).
This is not to say that EBJRS membersare never called upon to shine as individu-als—but, rather, that solo parts as such inthe EBJRS are not the province of only oneor two of the players whose primary pur-pose is to occupy the limelight. A girl whois playing a technically difficult and con-spicuous soprano line in one piece may becalled upon to play the foundational bass
part in the next. As the members gain inmusical maturity, they gradually take onresponsibilities of all the roles, becomingproficient in the full range of instruments.
The fruits of this kind of musical train-ing are not immediate—they take time todevelop. And one can easily overlookthem, particularly as the special compe-tence that kids develop in the EBJRSmakes it possible for them to take on oth-er musical challenges. If we follow a few ofthe EBJRS members’ activities over justthe last couple of years, however, we cansee the broader significance of what Tish,Louise and Hanneke have done.
Let’s start with Yvonne Lin. In 2000, asa member of the EBJRS, Yvonne played aneffortless and witty sopranino solo in theEBJRS performance of Erik Satie’s Chez leDocteur (Matthias Maute, arr.). She hassince gone on to take a leading role in theAlbany (CA) High School jazz band, whereshe is regularly called upon to improviseon the saxophone, weaving fluent solosout of and back into the texture of the ensemble. Yvonne’s mother credits theEBJRS experience in large part for herrather shy daughter’s intense motivationto land a seat in the competitive jazz band.
Other EBJRS members have initiatedensemble activities with EBJRS peers. In2003, Rebecca Molinari organized arecorder performance with EBJRS col-
leagues Morgan Jacobs and Andrew Levyat Albany High School’s annual MadrigalNight. With the encouragement and sup-port of Hanneke, Rebecca selected reper-toire, organized rehearsals, and took onthe administrative work of coordinatingthe group’s performance with the highschool music director. The confidence shebrought to the task—and to the perform-ance, as group leader—was a direct out-growth of her EBJRS experience.
Rebecca has also been especially activein arranging music for the EBJRS. She hasarranged a wide range of repertoire, frommusic of the 17th-century English court toBroadway show tunes. These have beenperformed at various public venues in-cluding the 2002 Berkeley Festival. An-drew, too, has written for the EBJRS: hisRonde de L’Anniversaire was performed bythe group in 2001. Indeed, composingand arranging are specifically encouragedby all three directors, who nurture the stu-dents’ confidence in inventing music byincorporating regular improvisation andlistening games into the curriculum.
EBJRS members Henry Finucane, Rebecca, Morgan, and Andrew have alllaunched ensembles that competed for orwon performance opportunities in the BayArea’s annual Junior Bach Festival. Theseare entirely voluntary efforts that havebrought wide attention to and interest inrecorder performance, and are in no smallmeasure an outgrowth of the communalinterest in the recorder inspired by theEBJRS.
Under the auspices of the Junior BachFestival, recorder ensembles have per-formed in Bay Area public schools,churches and, in one instance, received aninvitation to perform at the Carmel BachFestival. Andrew’s ensemble was featuredin a 2003 television news segment aboutthe Festival aired throughout the entireBay Area, a news clip that continues to beshown to prospective Junior Bach performers and their parents.
These efforts, of course, involve inten-sive support—they owe much to the en-thusiasm and generosity of the EBJRS di-rectors, and harpsichordist KatherineWestine, in their capacity as expert en-semble coaches. Not only are they some ofour most acclaimed performers, butthrough their direction of the EBJRS, they
A Success Story: the East Bay Junior
Recorder Society
East Bay JRS members (l to r) Rebecca Molinari, Andrew Levy (partially visible),Rob Moses and Siobhan Williams. (Photo by Sheila Newbery)
The fruits of this kind of
musical training are not
immediate—they take
time to develop.
have unquestionably become a corner-stone in Bay Area music education.
Because the knowledge and contacts ofthe EBJRS directors reach deep into themusical community (via the FarallonRecorder Quartet, Philharmonia BaroqueOrchestra, Music’s Recreation, Bay AreaRecorder Series, just to name a few), thestudents have found not only a stimulat-ing musical home in the EBJRS, but a por-tal to the wider world of music-making.Guest conductors are frequent visitors,and have included Vida Bateau, FrancesBlaker, Kathy Cochran, Sabine Djernaes,Frances Feldon, Eileen Hadidian, ShiraKammen, David Morris, Rachel Streeter,Jane Webber and Joanna Bramel Young.
Group performances also regularlybring the EBJRS into contact with a largermusical audience via opportunities to playat EBRS meetings (where some EBJRSmembers have now also become regularparticipants) and at the Berkeley Early Music Festivals of 1998, 2000 and 2002.
The EBRS has encouraged EBJRSmembers to attend Bay Area recorderworkshops and has provided concretesupport in the form of scholarships (in ad-dition to generous support the EBJRS as awhole receives from the EBRS and from anumber of local individual recorder play-
ers). Boosted in this way,and with the help of schol-arships awarded directlyfrom the AmericanRecorder Society (ARS),some of the teen membershave now become regularparticipants at the SanFrancisco Early Music Society (SFEMS) work-shops and have expandedtheir scope of travel to in-clude other workshopsaround the country—at Indiana University, Oberlin Conservatory, or Amherst EarlyMusic Festival.
Even the youngest EBJRS membershave taken their musical competence intonew spheres—witness the tremendous influx of young recorder players to theSFEMS Music Discovery Workshop, andthe leadership role recently taken by teenEBJRS members as assistant instructors atthat workshop. One faculty member at theworkshop spontaneously exclaimed (notknowing that virtually all of the recorderplayers at the workshop were EBJRS mem-bers): “Hey, some of these recorder playersare really good!’’
As an example of community building,then—of handing down to the next generation the love and practice of music-making—the EBJRS has been a resounding success.
But it is also a fragile one, kept afloat bythe generosity of individuals and larger organizations like ARS and SFEMS. That itshould continue in the midst of the sever-est cutbacks in arts funding ever witnessedin the country (California’s public fundingfor the arts was devastated in 2003) is remarkable and should give every readersome notion of the dedication and hardwork it has required.
We all agree that it’s worth our efforts.Sheila Newbery
January 2005 13
East Bay Junior Recorder Society
An early music festival is an immersionexperience. Commit yourself to it and
pretty soon you’re up to your ears in bassocontinuo—a pleasure that New Yorkershave traditionally had to go elsewhere toget. No more. The first New York EarlyMusic Celebration (NYEMC), held inNew York City, NY, from October 1-10, hasfinally made it possible to overindulge incantus firmus without leaving town.
No one knows why it took so long. After all, the New York Pro Musica Antiquawas created over 50 years ago. Music Before 1800, among other series presen-ters, has been around since 1975. (Theyoffered the sublime a capella groupPomerium during NYEMC.) New YorkCity has a vibrant early music scene.
But 60 concerts in 10 days, all playedby local groups? It took Gene Murrow,former president of the AmericanRecorder Society and now general manag-er of Early Music New York (EMNY), tomake it happen.
“We had several objectives when welaunched the idea two years ago,” he says.“We wanted to raise the profile of earlymusic in New York; to bring in new audi-ences; to strengthen the sense of commu-nity; to increase the awareness of venuesbeyond Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall;and to enlighten members of the press,who have never stopped repeating the oldmantra that New York is not an early mu-sic town.”
Surely no one believes that any more.With concerts ranging from solo recitals tooperas; venues that included a Medievalcloister, a colonial mansion, and manyspectacular churches; and serious recog-
nition from the New York Times, the cele-bration has to be rated a success.
The kick-off event was a performanceof G. F. Handel’s Water Music and Musickfor the Royal Fireworks played by EMNYunder the direction of Frederick Renz.(Proof that it was the kick-off: a city coun-cilwoman presented framed plaques andread a congratulatory letter from the may-or.) With 59 musicians playing historicalinstruments—including a dozen Baroqueoboes, horns galore, and three sets of timpani located left, right, and center—it was a stupendous performance.
But although the Water Music featureda lovely Baroque flute, played by CharlesBrink, I was impatient to hear—and toplay—the recorder. There was opportuni-ty for both.
The first play-in, a four-hour marathon,was sponsored by the New YorkRecorder Guild under the direction ofJohn DeLucia, who recruited many ofNew York City’s most distinguished teach-
ers for the event. Deb-orah Booth, Richieand Elaine Henzler,Valerie Horst, Daph-na Mor, Morris New-man, Anita Randolfi,Mordecai Rubin, andthree past presidentsof the ARS—KennethWollitz, Murrow, andMartha Bixler—wereallotted 20 minuteseach to rehearse anypiece they chose.
Selections rangedfrom Horst’s choice
of a piece by Guillaume Dufay, “the great-est composer of the 15th century,” to Randolfi’s selection of David Goldstein’sSlow Dance and Fast Dance, both original-ly published in this magazine.
“I had many sleepless night preparingfor this event,” DeLucia said. “But thegods were there for us.”
Not only did the 30 to 40 participantsplay some wonderful music, we receivedhelpful counsel that ranged from Bixler’sadvice on how to avoid “honking out thehigh A” on a plastic tenor to Rubin’s reminder that “A musical activity is like abullfight. It doesn’t matter what your credentials are once you get in the ring.”
The second play-in, held the nextweekend as part of Recorder CelebrationDay, featured three teachers who are alsoperformers—Rachel Begley, Mor andTricia van Oers, otherwise known as theNew Amsterdam Recorder Trio—andattracted an even larger group.
And then there was Matthias Maute’smaster class with Michael Rosenberg, Caroline Thompson and Ortrun Gauthierplaying Telemann; Gregory Bynum play-ing Bach; Kenneth Shaw with Dieupart;and Alicia Kravitz performing Vivaldi’sConcerto in C Major. (“This piece was re-discovered in the ’60s and was a shock forthe recorder world,” Maute said. “Every-one had to play such a difficult piece.”)
According to one observer, “This wasthe best master class I’ve ever seen, because everything was put into historicalcontext.”
Still, the NYEMC was primarily aboutconcerts, including the following:· The Mannes Baroque Artists, with
Nina Stern on recorder, Sandra Milleron flute, Martha McGaughey on violada gamba, and harpsichordist ArthurHaas playing music from France andGermany. Particularly noteworthy wereFrançois Couperin’s Pièces de clavecin,an extravaganza of ornamentation that,among other things, perfectly evoked apair of butterflies in flight; and J. J.Quantz’s Trio-Sonata in C Major, whichfeatured a dialogue between recorderand flute and was the only trio sonatahe composed for those instruments.
· Ensemble Breve, with Booth andNewman on recorder plus harpsi-chordist Jan-Piet Knijff and gambist JayElfenbein. When I walked in with aniPod-toting 21-year-old, my young
John DeLucia conducts participants in the New York Recorder Guildplay-in. (Photo by Michael Zumoff)
14 American Recorder
I THE NEW YORK EARLY MUSIC CELEBRATION
When I walked in with aniPod-toting 21-year-old,my young friend looked around and whispered,“The demographic isalways the same atconcerts like this....
friend looked around and whispered,“The demographic is always the sameat concerts like this, even in Arizona”—by which he meant that, even thoughwe were on the campus of Columbia University and swarms of studentswere everywhere, he was the youngestmember of the audience by far.
In addition, the acoustics were astonishingly bad, especially for any-one not sitting in the first five rows ofthe dilapidated Romanesque chapel.Yet the concert was lovely. Highlightsincluded Heinrich Isaac’s Der Hundplayed first on low instruments andthen on high, Bach’s Trio Sonata in CMinor (BWV 1030), and a trio sonata byBach’s contemporary Pierre Prowo.
· The New Amsterdam Recorder Triowith mezzo-soprano Margo GezairlianGrib. Using a set of instruments newlycreated by Peter van der Poel, Begley,Mor, and Van Oers presented Triste España, a concert named after a Span-ish romance mourning the death ofPrince Juan in 1504. Particularly out-standing were performances of Dimetriste coraçon by Francisco de la Torre,which featured a duet between thesinger and Begley on bass recorder, and Las Vacas by Alonso Mudarra. Early Music America presented the
finalists in its annual competition foremerging early music performers and ensembles specializing in Medieval andRenaissance music. The six groups per-forming half-hour performances includedtwo showcasing virtuosic recorder play-ing: Ciaramella and Ensemble La Rota.
The NYEMC also offered two recorderorchestra concerts. For the record, I am aformer member of one group and a currentmember of the other, so I cannot pretendto be objective.
But the objectivetruth is this: both houseswere packed, and for areason. The first concertwas performed by theRecorder Orchestra ofNew York (RONY), aLong Island group directed by Booth; thesecond by the Manhat-tan Recorder Orchestra (MRO) underthe leadership of Maute. Coincidentally,each group began with Lord Zouche’sMaske by Giles Farnaby and premiered apiece commissioned specifically for them.
In the case of RONY, that commis-sioned piece was Pete Rose’s MegaRONY,a three-movement composition culminat-ing in a jubilant explosion of tambourinesand drums. MRO offered Maute’s TenTimes Tenor, a jazzy study in syncopationcomposed entirely for tenor recorders.
Beyond these similarities, the concertswere quite different. RONY’s program, AMusical Diversion: Renaissance ThroughContemporary, focused on Renaissanceand Baroque music, with eight out of 11 pieces falling into those categories.One affecting selection was WilliamByrd’s five-part Come to me grief for ever,played in the lower register with plenty ofbig basses. The concert ended with a rendition of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes.
MRO’s Banchetto Musicale includedearly music (Schein and Handel), but paidclose attention to Grieg, Satie and livingcomposers: Maute; Paul Leenhouts,whose surprising Tale of the Old Saguaroevokes the desert of the southwestern U.S.by asking the musicians to blow into thelabium, to finger notes without blowing,to flutter tongue, and to employ all man-ner of knocks, trills, and breathing tech-niques; and Hollywood composer RussellGarcia, whose exhilarating big band pieceForce 12 featured improvisations byStephen Moise on sopranino, Rosenbergon alto, and Randolfi on tenor.
Maute also gave a virtuoso solo performance of another of his compositions: a dance suite in F major,convincingly written in the Baroque style.
Glorious as these entertainments were,I can’t help wondering: is it possible to bea recorder player without feeling defensiveabout the position generally accorded ourinstrument? Personally, I’m always alertfor signs of acceptance. One form of it occurs when the recorder is includedwithout fanfare in big concerts. This happened several times. · Begley and Stern performed admirably
in Rameau’s over-the-top opera Platée,prompting mention in Newsday of their“enchanting” performance.
· Sacred Music in a Sacred Space present-ed a Renaissance mass by FranciscoGuerrero in collaboration with Piffaro,whose versatile members play cornetto, dulcian, harp, lute, sackbut,shawm, trumpet, recorder and everything else.
· Finally, the Baroque orchestra Rebeland the choir of historic TrinityChurch, located a few feet from wherethe World Trade Towers once stood,performed two English chamber operas: John Blow’s Venus and Adonisand Dido and Aeneas by Blow’s pupilHenry Purcell. Both operas providedsome fine recorder passages, includinga spirited exchange in the former between two tenors and a delightfulsection in the latter for two sopranos.Maute and Sophie Larivière did thehonors with style. Will New York City host another early
music celebration? “It’s 99.5% certainthat another New York Early Music Cele-bration will happen,” Murrow said.
Although timing has not been deter-mined, this much is sure: the celebrationwill remain strictly local. Murrow ex-plains: “If you want to hear early musicfrom different countries, go to the BostonEarly Music Festival. Or go to Utrecht.We’re doing something different. We wantto celebrate New York’s rich early musicresources. That will remain a constant.”
Nancy Hathaway
January 2005 15
Matthias Maute, music in hand, listens as Michael Rosenberg and Caroline Thompson play Telemann. (Photo by Melvyn Pond)
Is it possible to be arecorder player withoutfeeling defensive about the position generallyaccorded our instrument?Personally, I’m alwaysalert for signs ofacceptance.
Manhattan Recorder Orchestra members awaitthe start of their performance at New York City’sAll Angels Church. (Photo by Melvyn Pond)
16 American Recorder
Lullaby, also titled Bedtime Story on onemanuscript copy, has become one of myfavorite compositions by David Goldstein (1918-2003). He sent a copy tome some years ago because he knew I loved good SAT trios.
Judging by the dates and types ofpieces found with it in a file folder in hiseffects, Lullaby was probably written in1987 when Goldstein was preparing thework that became Jewish Festival Songs,published by the Provincetown Bookshopin 1988. It is my guess that Lullaby was notincluded in the Songs collection because itdid not fit a specific Jewish holy day or celebration, as did its file-mates.
One quality of Goldstein’s music isthat nobody drones! Lullaby starts off witha simple melody which reminds most people of Mary Had A Little Lamb and isquickly shared by all three lines.
Like much of Goldstein’s music, it ispossible to choose very different tempiand still be right. Lullaby can be played
quickly with the quarter note in the 90s, ifyou wish—but for me, I imagine a womanholding her baby; my tempo is muchslower, in the high 60s.
My preference is to let the alto line leada softening and slowing of the last fourmeasures, but I know how tolerant thecomposer was—and how happy he was to share his music and watch people enjoying it. If he were with us, he’d tell usto play it any way we wanted!
Goldstein’s Lullaby is much like thetiny marine animals described by JohnSteinbeck in his novel, Cannery Row. Totry forcing them into a position on a slidejust shatters them. You would do muchbetter to let them swim on to your slide bythemselves.
Lullaby is the type of piece that will findits own way into your heart—and that is why the ARS Board has chosen it as the special piece for our 2005 Play-the-Recorder Month celebration.
Recorder Day! by Richard Carbone
Save this Date: March 12 is Recorder Day!Not only is March Play-the-Recorder Month, but March 12 has been designated Recorder Day! for 2005.
All ARS members are invited to play the chosen composition by David Goldsteinon March 12. Chapters, consorts, and any other members are encouraged, but notrequired, to play Lullaby at 3 p.m. EST (or 8 p.m. GMT for our international friends).It will be fun to know that fellow recorder players around the world are playing thesame piece at the same time.
The most creative use of Lullaby anytime on March 12 will win a special prize fromthe ARS. In addition, prizes will be offered to chapters for the most imaginative PtRMactivities and for the largest percentage membership increase during March.
Please send the details (including photos) of your chapter, consort or individualactivities to the ARS office to help us tell other members how you celebrated Play-the-Recorder Month and Recorder Day! The winners will be announced inthe September issue of American Recorder.
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January 2005 17
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LullabyDavid Goldstein
Copyright © 2005 The Estate of David Goldstein. All rights reserved. A MIDI playback of this piece is available in Recorder On-Line at <www.recorderonline.org>.
ARS members may make photocopies of this music for their own use.
18 American Recorder
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www
Copyright © 2005 The Estate of David Goldstein. All rights reserved. A MIDI playback of this piece is available in Recorder On-Line at <www.recorderonline.org>.
ARS members may make photocopies of this music for their own use.
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ROTTENBURGHREACHING THE LEVEL OF MASTERCLASSDesign: Friedrich von Huene
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Though few and far between, jazz and popmusic recorder players have been an
important voice in recent American musichistory for almost 40 years. The intention ofthis series is to introduce them to the widercommunity of recorder players who are mostly familiar with early music.
I have found that, although jazz recorderplayers are proponents and practitioners of adifferent idiom, they share the same passionfor recorder and recorder playing that youand I do. They are amazing performers anddeserve to be better known to the recorder-playing world. They are all interesting peopleas well, and I hope you enjoy getting to knowthem and their music, as I have.
I first became interested in jazz aroundthe age of 13. I would listen to the all-jazz station in Los Angeles, CA, with a little ear-phone plugged into my transistor radio, lateat night in bed when I was supposed to beasleep. At that time, I was a modern fluteplayer in high school. We had a wonderfulmusic program, run by a fantastic teacherand jazz musician named John Magruder,who inspired me greatly and was very definitely one of my mentors. As well as beinga high school music teacher, he was a jazzsax/wind doubler (playing flutes and clar-inets as well as saxophones) active in theSouthern California jazz scene. He per-formed with notables such as Don Ellis, agreat composer, bandleader and jazz innova-tor to whom I enjoyed listening. I also boughtrecords by jazz flutist Hubert Laws.
I was then, and now remain primarily, aclassical musician. I was amazed by fellowstudents’ jazz compositions for our highschool dance band, and was just generallywowed by the mystique and prowess of jazzmusicians.
That appreciation and fervor for listeninghas remained with me to this day. What couldbe more natural than for me to seek out jazzand pop music recorder players?
Another of my mentors, LaNoue Daven-port, began not as a recorder player, but as ajazz trumpeter. Alas, I never heard LaNoueplay jazz recorder.
Since becoming interested in finding jazzand pop recorder players, I’ve discovered sev-eral in the U.S., sometimes under completelyrandom circumstances. A percussionist fromNew York with whom I play a lot of musiconce invited me to lunch with another drum-mer while I was in Buffalo, NY. This drummerhappened to be a well-known band leaderand arranger who used to play with a 1960sfolk rock group. When I asked him if he knewof any jazz or pop recorder players, he said,“As a matter of fact, I know this guy…,” andturned me on to a most interesting andfriendly rock recorder player, who will be thefocus of the next installment in this series.
One of my students, a jazz bass player,knows a fellow in New York City with whomhe has remained friends since high school.The friend is a jazz trombonist and recorderplayer who actually played recorder withDuke Ellington in the early 1970s, and hisactivities will be the focus of a further install-ment in the series.
Another of my students, an avid jazz listener, knew about Eddie Marshall andbrought me one of his recordings. Since thattime, everybody to whom I’ve talked who isknowledgeable about the topic of Americanjazz and pop recorder players has mentionedMarshall. He is known and admired by several other players, including Joel Levineand Pete Rose, who will be interviewed in yetanother installment of this series.
20 American Recorder
by Frances Feldon
The author performs chamber musicwith Flauti Diversi, an ensemble specializ-
ing in Baroque/contemporary works,and Danza!, a Renaissance mixed consort. She teaches recorder and
Baroque flute privately at her studio inBerkeley, CA, and is a regular conductor
and faculty member at recorder workshopsthroughout North America. Ms. Feldon directs the SFEMS Recorder Workshop
and teaches at Albany Adult School. In September 2003, she traveled to
Montréal to conduct the recorder orchestra at the international festival
Les Journées de la flûte à bec in her arrangements of George Gershwin
tunes. Current projects include exploringcontemporary works for recorder and multiple percussion and studying jazz
recorder through courses at the Jazz School in Berkeley.
Ms. Feldon studied recorder andBaroque flute at Indiana University, where
she completed a Doctor of Music in collegium directing. She has taught at
Indiana University and UC Davis. In October 2004, she traveled to Holland to conduct her Ellington
arrangements at the International Congress of Recorder Orchestras and
give a presentation on American jazz and pop recorder players.
DREAMS THAT DANCE: An Interview with
Jazz Recorder Player and Drummer
EDDIE MARSHALL
Marshall is a drummer, recorder player,bandleader—and, as Dmitry Matheny wrotefor the San Francisco Jazz Festival, “a living legend of the San Francisco jazzscene. He has a resume that reads like a modern jazz honor roll, including long-termstints with Stan Getz, Bobby Hutcherson,Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Bobby McFerrin, andadditional collaborations with the likes ofFreddie Hubbard, Jon Hendricks, DexterGordon, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The winner of the first annual San Francisco, CA,JAZZ Beacon Award in 2000 for his lifelongservice to the Bay Area jazz community, Mr.Marshall has dazzled audiences with his ownensembles, including the seminal jazz-fusionband Fourth Way and his current group,Holy Mischief.”
Derek Richardson also wrote in DownBeat: “If in the last [35] years a fan on the West Coast has missed seeing Eddie Marshall behind a set of drums, it can’t beblamed on lack of opportunities. He has single-handedly done his part to keep jazzalive and swing this side of the Rockies.”
Dreams That Dance: A Suite, Marshall’s new composition in which he is featured on jazz recorder, had its world pre-miere at the November 2004 San FranciscoJazz Festival at the San Francisco Museum ofModern Art. The composition was createdwith generous support from Chamber MusicAmerica’s New Works Creation and Presen-tation Program, and funded by the DorisDuke Charitable Foundation. Marshall'sHoly Mischief Ensemble (Marshall ondrums/recorder; Peter Barshay, bass;Leonard Thompson, piano; Anthony Blea, violin; Malecio Magdaluyo and John Santos,percussion), next presents Dreams ThatDance: A Suite, at The Bach Society in El Granada, CA on January 16, 4:30 p.m.For ticket information, call 650-726-4143 orvisit <www.bachddsoc.org >.
You may visit Marshall’s web site,<www.eddiemarshall.com>, to learn moreabout him and his activities.
You may also listen to Marshall’s accom-plished jazz recorder playing on his latestCD, Holy Mischief. It may be purchasedthrough his web site, by e-mailing <[email protected]>, or byphoning 415-821-4890. Two songs on thisCD feature Marshall on recorder. The first,Monsieur de Charles, was written for one ofhis sons, and the second, Dreams thatDance, is a title thought up by his wife Sue todescribe the happy mood of the tune. He also“stole the title away” and gave it to his newwork because it evokes the feeling he wants toconvey.
Now, meet Eddie Marshall!
FF. Do you know of any other jazz recorderplayers?EM. There is a gentleman in San Franciscowho plays jazz recorder named ArtMaxwell, but there’s not very many.
The first time I heard a recorder used ina jazz recording was Keith Jarrett in the’60s, early ’70s. He’s playing piano andsome recorder. That was probably the on-ly other person I’d heard playing recorder.Until about 25 years ago, I’d never evenheard another person playing therecorder.
I got the recorder as a gift when I was16. It was a tenor recorder, I’ll never forgetit—it was in the Montgomery Ward cata-logue, I think in 1953 or something likethat, and it was $35. My mom said I canhave anything in the catalogue that wasbelow $40. And I didn’t have any idea; Ihad a little penny whistle I used to play,one of those little plastic ones.
FF: No clothes, no shoes, nothing like that;you went for the recorder.EM: No, no, no—and I’m a drummer; I’vebeen playing drums professionally since Iwas 14, with various family bands.
Anyhow, I always wanted to play [therecorder]. There’s something about thesound of flutes and woodwind instru-ments, it’s just so calming to me. Andwhen I got that tenor, I mean, it was sucha large stretch, I couldn’t even hardly playit. In fact, it sat around for a year before Ieven touched it. I just thought totally,“Oh, this is not going to work.”
But then I started playing it when Imoved to New York City; I was 17 or 18. Iwas one of these guys [laughs] that was to-tally dedicated to music, so I had nofriends. I just worked my little day job, Igot off at five and I practiced my drums,and then I practiced my recorder, in aroom right off of Times Square.
But still I hadn’t really heard any otherrecorder players, so I started to developmy own tone. I didn’t know what it wassupposed to sound like, anyhow, and Iwanted it to sound jazzy—you know,’cause the first things I did were to copyjazz songs that I could play. I figured outthe scales and everything like that, and Igot so I could play very good by ear, justcopying what I heard on the records.
All the time I was also going to schoolin New York, and studying harmony andtheory and stuff like that. I would practicethe same scales that the guys do on theclarinets—you know, I’d do everything inevery key. And still I hadn’t really heardanybody play the recorder.
January 2005 21
Everybody to whom
I’ve talked who is
knowledgeable about the
topic of American jazz
and pop recorder players
has mentioned Marshall.
22 American Recorder
When I got married, my wife was intoBaroque music. I asked her, “What kind ofmusic do you like?” She said, “Well, I likeVivaldi.” And I’d heard of Vivaldi, but notfor recorders, so I said, “OK, let’s get acouple of CDs,” and we got one—FransBrüggen, I even have it with me, FransBrüggen’s Italian Sonatas. Well, I was despondent for about three years [laughs]. I didn’t know you could play [recorder like that].
I’ve always loved Mozart, and I wasthinking he was like a big city writer, theCount Basie of his day. I mean his musicwas so lively—it ‘s really urban music, Ifeel. But this Baroque music, it’s like danc-ing [sings rhythms]. Then you read thehistory of it—in fact, these people werereally jamming. It was really like party music, it wasn’t staid at all.
Frans Brüggen came to San Francisco,way over 15 years ago. He played at GraceCathedral, just on soprano, he wouldn’tallow any amplification. You should haveheard it; it was just mind-blowing. And ofcourse I went up and got his CDs.
And then I started going to all the Philharmonia [Baroque Orchestra] con-certs with recorder—and who was there:Marion Verbruggen. And that really got meto study it. I went up to her [laughs]—I never do this, I’ve been in the presence ofMuhammed Ali, all those [cats], every-body; I did go up to Miles Davis because Iwas on the same concert with him. Butfirst of all, Marion’s playin’ Vivaldi andSammartini. She’s got on these leatherpants, and she’s got this spiked hair, andshe’s standing there like this [demon-strates]. She’s groovin’ like, “zaratatata”[sings syllables quick as machine gun fire] and she’d whup these things, “dadid-dleup-dadiddleup-datakalalup” [again].She’s so rockin’, I mean movin’ like this—in classical music; it just blew my mind.She’d probably remember me, I was theonly black person at all those concerts. Iasked her, “Do you do all this [with] tripletonguing?” ’Cause I wanted to know. Herfingers move so fast!
FF: Let’s get back to you. You’re also a fabu-lous drummer. What is it that’s so specialabout the recorder for you, and what is itabout the recorder that’s distinctive fromdrums and serves your musical voice?EM: See, I started composing music reallyearly. I was always encouraged by my bandmembers, whatever serious band I was in.So [playing recorder] was for writing music. I could just pick out tunes. I played
piano for years before I played drums, so Ihad a sense of melody. My dad was a pianoplayer.
Playing the drums was just a kid thingto do. When my dad had rehearsals andthere was a drummer, I would get on thedrums as soon as the guy got off—as earlyas 10 years old, I would do that—so by thetime I was 14, I had a pretty good hang ofit.
But I wasn’t really serious about music;I was tired of taking piano lessons. I want-ed to do something else. Drums were justa way to make a living when you’re 14,other than doing my paper route![Laughs] As soon as I started playing thedrums, the paper route was over.
I really got quite good; my dad was oneof these people, if you played anything,you had to take lessons. So even though Iknew how to play drums, I had to take thedrum lessons. There was just no wayabout it, which was good—because then,my last two years of high school, I had allthese jobs from the union.
Oh, you had to join the union too; thatwas another thing my dad always stressed,join the union. And they would have theseauditions for bands going out on the roadwith a play or something. I was only 16,but I knew how to read really well. So Iwould always get these jobs—in the sum-mer, you know, these tent shows [where]I’m playing the drums in the band. Then Igot really serious about it, and that’s whenI moved to New York.
FF: What do you think it is about recorderthat allows you to express yourself differentlyfrom drums?EM: Well, first and mainly, because it’s amelodic instrument; and secondly, because jazz is based on improvising. Itravel a lot, so if I’m stuck in the hotelroom, for instance, and I can’t practice mydrums—maybe I’ll take a pair of sticksand practice on a pillow, or something likethat. But with recorder, I can play it any-where. I take it with me everywhere. I havetwo in my car, so if I’m stuck in traffic, I just play my recorder.
I like [being able to do] that, and I developed a sound [in the hotel room].This is how I developed a sound—because, not knowing how a recorder wassupposed to sound, I tried to make itsound more like a flute. In the hotel room,I’d find a corner. [Picks up recorder andplays some improvised jazz riffs.]
But the thing is, I developed this tonethat’s not a purely recorder tone, because
Photo by Chela Shanti
The first time I heard
a recorder used in a
jazz recording was
Keith Jarrett in the
’60s, early ’70s.
January 2005 23
there’s a lot of air in my tone; it’s like the“shhh”— there’s that thing going. But I’lltell you one thing—Marion, if I could getthat tone! Her sound is strong andclear…. [But] you can’t just ask people. Iwould have to buy her dinner, I wouldhave taken her to lunch, anything[laughs]. I hadn’t really ever felt [so in aweof] a person before, to tell you the truth.
FF: Here’s a comment that I hope will makeyou feel really good: your improvisation, facility and sense of what you can do is impressively facile and complicated.EM: The thing is, I’ve [always] played jazzmusic; jazz music is complicated enoughanyhow. I mean, the fact that you stay withan instrument—I was always totally awareof the limitations of the recorder, or what Ithen thought were its “so-called” limita-tions. It’s easy for jazz players to say,“Well, you know these instruments,they’re difficult to play.”
Most of the [jazz] concerts are in E major, or maybe they’re in a specific scale. A pop song maybe involves two or fourchords, and at least three or four scales.But that’s just an excuse that we jazz mu-sicians use for the fact that all classicalplayers can play everything in every key. Imean, they can play their scales. That’s allyou really, really need, I feel.
For most jazz musicians, we study clas-sical music so we can first learn the instru-ment, and then learn the scales, learn howto facilitate yourself with this instrument.What you do with that, it’s a personal mat-ter, but [that’s] the least you shouldhave…
But then pop music is another world—it’s basically like folk music, like mygrandfather played. My grandfatherplayed guitar, what he called the blues, butit was primitive, primitive! But he didn’thave to go to school to learn how to play![Laughs] There were certain things youplayed, you know. In a way, it was sort oflimited, you would think—but boy ohboy, it was the growth of great music.
FF: I’ve been listening to this fellow namedTerry Kirkman, who played with The Association (the rock group known for theirclose-harmony singing and original sym-phonic-like arrangements in the mid-1960s).He played recorder on some of their big hits,like Along Comes Mary—it’s very folk-like,very modal, but I love it, it’s fantastic. EM: I suddenly got discouraged, playingin public. I play at weddings and stuff like
this—a lot of people will get recorder andacoustic guitar, so I’d play a lot of stan-dards [on recorder]. I’ve always known alot of standards, age-appropriate stan-dards [laughs]—anything by Cole Porteror Gershwin, anything by Big D [DukeEllington], or any of the other Americanwriters, I know. And I play a little bit andimprovise on it, so basically that’s the mu-sic I play [on recorder] in public.
I use the recorder mainly for compos-ing. I can play the piano up to a point,enough to put the chords down and stufflike that, but I can’t sustain a melody. Ican’t go: [picks up his recorder and playslovely improvised jazz tune]. On the piano, you know, I’d go: “da-da, da-da, da-da” [sings]—and then I’d make a mistake.
Making up melodies [on the recorder],it’s so close to you; this recorder, thesound is so close to you.
On the piano, it’s coming from somewhere else. Even on my drums, it’scoming from over there somewhere. [Therecorder sound] feels like it’s going rightthrough my jaw and everything, right tomy ear.
That’s another thing; the recorder is fa-mous for being out of pitch. You canoverblow it [easily], you have to blow it really [carefully]. I have some recordersthat are really flat, and I can’t adjust them.
This one is a really good one, a friendsold me this; it’s a French recorder, and Igot it a couple of years ago. I’m still [get-ting used to it]. [Plays]
This is pretty good, but some of them,you have to really concentrate to play it onpitch, especially when you start really go-ing. [Plays fast passage.] It’s really hard toget that low F. [To demonstrate, plays lowF again with lots of chiff for accent; andthen, beginning with a minor harmonicflourish upwards, keeps going with morefast finger work, doing a short riff thatstarts to go around the circle of fifths andthen stops.] Everything is really difficultwith this thing [laughs].
FF: Are you thinking of any particular syllables when you’re tonguing, or do you justdo it?EM: No, I just do it, and I do it so often—I really, really listen. [Plays slurred chro-matic mordent-like passage over threeturns of circle of fifth chords, then playssame passage staccato] I know I don’twant that. [Demonstrates same passagelegato] A lot of it’s just repetition, doing itover and over.
This recorder, the sound
is so close to you.
On the piano,
it’s coming from
somewhere else.
Even on my drums,
it’s coming from
over there somewhere.
24 American Recorder
FF: Do you think at all vocally—like what you might do if you were scatting, but just doing that into the recorder?EM: If I scat something, it’s not really truepitch. I’ve never been able to, like, be on abicycle ride and hum [a melody], and beable to get back home and write it down. IfI just sit in a room and just practice a scaleor something [riffs on scale]—I’ll do allthe scales in triplets maybe [same scale intriplets, leading into lovely melody]. So if I just went home, I’d say, “OK, where can that go to?” and it would involve thepiano.
See, already I can hear 10,000 thingsgoing on [laughs], because then it movesto another feeling [plays more energetic,rhythmic, dotted passage] or some littlefigure like that. Usually that’s what youdo.
I have computers and everything [forwriting music]. [Laughs] Sometimes ifyou’re just sitting at the piano, and yourun this chord progression—we all rein-vent the wheel, let’s face it. But harmony isso vast, and rhythm is so vast, you can al-ways come up with a little rhythmic twist,or harmonic twist, or a melodic twist, andyou put in the time frames. It’s just a won-derful thing. It keeps you young for a long,long time [laughs].
FF: Speaking of little twists, have you everhad any special experiences on the recorder?EM: [Laughs] Always a special experience!The main special one, the first thing, is nothearing yourself. I finally think I’ve solved[that], not being able to hear myself—because I like to play with jazz groups, Iwill sit in someplace and play. [When youcan’t hear yourself] you tend to overblow.
It’s a different thing; sometimes I thinkI’ll know a song, it’ll be a song that I’veheard since I was a kid. I think I’ll know it,but don’t really know it. It’s not like I’mplaying the drums, now I’m playing themelody. I’m just so conscious of themelodies now. The worst thing that canhappen is if I just blow a melody. The improvising I can do—it’s probably theeasiest part, just making things up.
And another thing—never play without warming up, have this thingwarmed up! That’s embarrassing!
FF: Here’s a question I’m dying to ask you:how do you deal with recorder and micro-phones?EM: I did everything! Oh man, I’ve doneeverything! I even went and bought a littlecontact mic. First of all, I didn’t want it totouch my recorder, so I had to put tape on
it. It would get a sound, but it would justbe too “in your face,” and then you couldactually hear this going [demonstrates thesoft popping sound of fingers moving upand down on recorder tone holes].
I did all kinds of things. I did a job withMadeleine Eastman, she’s a great jazzsinger that lives around here. I playedrecorder. We did this Brazilian tune, and Iplayed on it, and I figured, “OK, if I have todo it, I’m just going to do it with a regularmic.” Now, with my sophisticated self—I didn’t have enough money to buy a mi-crophone like she had, it cost three or fourhundred dollars—I bought this little pow-er amplifier, and a directional mic. I standmaybe this far away from it [demon-strates]; then I have it going through mytiny little reverb [amplifier], and it soundsgreat, the best sound I’ve gotten so far.
Especially for weddings and stuff likethat, it’s soft. Basically, you’re sort of aprisoner to your venue with the recorder. Ifyou can get into a nice place, inside [with]a big sound—I played one time in GraceCathedral. It was one of the first jazz festival things, Herbie Lewis, myself, abass player who used to live here. We didn’t have any amplification, and man! People were really quiet too; it was reallysomething.
FF: With a stationary microphone, you really are a prisoner, because you can’t movearound.EM: You are! I know—when I’m playing asolo and I can’t help but move around. Somy little speaker that I have guides mein—because I just have it mainly for myself, and I can feel when [the sound’s] going out.
I’ll tell you one thing: being a drum-mer, everything’s always moving aroundat the same time. To me, it’s a great chal-lenge just to stand there—not even tap myfoot, just put all my energy into it. And itworks better for me every time too.
FF: I’ve tried one of those clarinet mics thatyou can clamp on, and it has a flexible arm.It’s still not ideal.EM: I just like this thing to be free. I’m surethere are microphones out there, butyou’re going to have to pay.
I was just thinking, the first recorder Igot was called a Golson recorder from theMontgomery Ward catalogue. Twentyyears ago, I put a pickup on it, [whichchanged its acoustics] and I lost [the lowC]; it was really annoying.
FF: Do you ever find that your instrumentsclog up too quickly, and what do you do?EM: Oh, yeah, I always bring two or threedifferent instruments with me. I made myown little stand. My favorite instrument isa recorder that my mother-in-law gave me25 years ago, and she had it for a long time.It’s got the most beautiful tone to it—oh,my God, but it gets wet, and I can onlyplay, like, two songs. Then it gets so wet, itloses notes in the upper register. But boy,for those first two songs! It might be an oldHohner.
FF: You’ve said the only other jazz recorderplayer you’re aware of is Keith Jarrett.EM: Do you know Art Maxwell? ArtMaxwell is one of the characters on thismusical scene. Art is a saxophonist, and hehas a saxophone quartet that he leads, buthe also plays recorder and shakuhachi. Weworked together over the years. He’s just areal good friend; he started being myfriend because he’s a bicycle repairman,too. I met him as a bicycle repairman, andthen we talked about playing the recorder.
We get together sometimes and playbebop music [high-energy, fast-tempo jazzpopular in the 1940s] on the recorder.[He’s also an] excellent saxophone andflute player. In fact, if I get another grant—I’m doing a grant now that’s going to fea-ture some recorder music—but if I get an-other one, Art’s going to be on it with me.He has a bass recorder. He’s just a real collector and everything, and he knowshow to play them and reads real well too.
FF: At the time when we’re talking, you’regetting ready for your date [on November 4,2004] at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which will feature your grant-supported composition featuring recorder ina jazz chamber music sound, during the SanFrancisco Jazz Festival. Tell us about that.EM: I’ve written some music for ’cello, violin, recorder and piano. A lot of thesongs I’m going to use on this concert startoff with that format and then build into aquintet, and they’re all original tunes. I just like that concept.
Another concept I like is something Iheard on the radio, some Vivaldi with fluteand recorder. And so the concert is goingto have some of that.
Basically, you’re sort of
a prisoner to your venue
with the recorder.
January 2005 25
Some of them are romantic songs,they’re not bebop songs. Well, my rootsare bebop—you know, I’m a jazz musicianand bebop is the music that propels me; ina sense, that’s my roots. There are reflec-tions involving the family, the grandkids,just life in general, and travels.
It’s going to be like a little suite in threeparts. I’m looking forward to it. I keep onchanging everything—I’ve got to stick tothe score. Every time I write the parts, I have this guy doing a little bit more.
Almost all these songs, the genesis isfrom the recorder. In the past I would writethe songs, and then sequence them [oncomputer]. These songs [take their] gene-sis from the recorder. When I start thesesongs, it’s just a melody, and then I add allthe other stuff with the sequencers. I startputting in the ’cello [sings]—“Holysmokes, that sounds pretty good.” Andthen I put in a violin part, and it doesn’tsound like a violin per se—but I’ve had violinists play the parts, and they knowhow to make it sound like a violin![Laughs] It just really works.
I wish I had that blinding techniquelike Marion has; I’d write all this fusionstuff, you know! I play the melodies on therecorder. Even when I’m playing therecorder—in the past, I was writing for ajazz quintet—I have a good idea how myband is going to sound.
[Composing] was the reason for it, not to perform with recorder. But then Istarted getting a better sound onrecorder—what I thought was a bettersound—and I figured I could blend withother people. Do you compose?
FF: No, but I’ve done arranging for recorder.I’ve recently arranged some Gershwin andEllington tunes for recorder orchestra, andthey sound great! It sounds like a little pipeorgan.EM: When I get through being busy, get intouch with me.
FF: Will that ever be?EM: Oh yeah, see, I’m on a big schedulenow, probably until the end of the year.Then, you know, it slows down, and it’sgoing to stay slowed down too. I really justwant to do this [composing and recorder].
FF: I’m going to ask you the [Bay Area all-jazz radio station] KCSM “desert island”question, which is: If you were stranded on adesert island, what three recordings wouldyou choose to have with you?EM: That’s a hard question! There’s somuch music.
Well, the first thing I would have tohave would be a Miles Davis CD. I like theones with [jazz drummer] Tony Williamson Columbia Records—Gingerbread Man,they had all the ultra-post-bebop tunes.
Then I’d probably have to have somekind of Vivaldi. I would have to have that,because I’d have a recorder with me too—that would be my only instrument.
Then I’d have to have this Africandrumming CD that’s called African Drum-mers from Senegal. Barunga hange is thename of the style, and, what it is, it’s anAfrican drummer who straddles threelarge conga-like drums, and has bells onhis ankles, and he plays for the dancers.He plays all these rhythms for the dancersand the dancers improvise. It is cool!
That’d be it.
FF: Do you think that the recorder has anyspecial characteristics that lend it particular-ly well to jazz?EM: It’s not powerful enough to be a realeffective jazz instrument—unless you am-plify it.
Now I’ve got some great things thatI’ve done with the recorder in my studiowhere I can control the dynamic levels,some funk tunes. It is a unique sound; bal-lads and sambas, it’s really effective.
I play this real high energy music withmy band, and, every once in a while, I’llget [on recorder] with the bass player andwe’ll play a little ballad. It really calms peo-ple down, I mean, it’s really quite amaz-ing. That’s why I get a lot of these weddinggigs. They contact my agent, my wonder-ful wife. I set up with a guitar player or abass player in the corner where theseguests are arriving for some high-falutin’party or something, and just play. Andthey say, “Oh, that’s so wonderful!”
It’s getting so I’m thinking about quit-ting the drums! Truly! I mean, I’m 66; I have a bad back now; I have to startthinking [laughs]. At some point, it goingto start to get really too hard to carry thedrums, it really is.
FF: That would be a shame, because you’resuch a great drummer.EM: Well, I love it too. I have kids thatplay, and, you know, they can be the greatdrummers [next] time.
FF: So do you think you’ll switch over torecorder—of necessity?EM: Oh, I’m looking forward to it! I figure,if I can spend as much time playing therecorder as I have the drums, boy, I’d really get somewhere with this thing!
It’s getting so I’m thinking about quitting the drums!... I figure, if I can spend as much time playing the recorder as I have the drums, boy, I’d really get somewhere with this thing!
BOOKREVIEWS___________________________________
26 American Recorder
FRANCESCA CACCINI’S IL PRIMOLIBRO DELLE MUSICHE OF 1618: A MODERN CRITICAL EDITION OFTHE SECULAR MONODIES.ED. RONALD JAMES ALEXANDER AND
RICHARD SAVINO. Indiana University Press,2004. 96 pp. Softcover, $24.95. ISBN 0253211395.
Francesca Caccini was the daughter ofGiulio Caccini, one of the most importantfigures in the formation of the earlyBaroque style. She began her career per-forming with her parents and siblings in afamily ensemble, but soon made a namefor herself as a solo singer and performeron various continuo instruments.
Her talent for writing both poetry andmusic was also widely admired. She waseventually commissioned to composestage works for the Medici court, includ-ing two operas.
The music published here comes froma book of miscellaneous vocal works byCaccini that features pieces in severalcompositional genres for one and twovoices with continuo. The editor’s notethat this collection was one of the largestto have been published to that date—consisting, as it does, of 17 secular piecesand 19 sacred works—that was devoted to
the new monodic style (the style devel-oped c.1600 as a reaction against 16th-century polyphony; often an accompa-nied solo with figured bass accompani-ment, which later developed into triosonatas in instrumental music).
The most sophisticated pieces, arieand madrigali, come first in the collection.They are typical of the best of the monod-ic style made famous by Francesca’s father,featuring first-rate poetry set to music thatis flexibly molded to the text and en-livened by virtuosic, but highly expressive,ornamental figures—the whole accompa-nied by a sturdy and supportive continuoline. Several canzonettas at the end of thecollection are in a lighter, more dancingmusical vein, but are also carefully adapt-ed to their texts.
This edition was prepared by well-known guitarist and lutenist RichardSavino, completing work begun by hisdoctoral student, Ronald James Alexan-der, who died tragically in 1990 at the ageof 28. Along with the music itself, the edition includes an extensive introductiongiving information about Caccini andabout the original print, as well as sugges-tions regarding performance practice. Thetexts are presented with a brief stylistic
analysis as well as an English translation,and there is a detailed bibliography.
While the introduction provides quitea bit of information, there is surprisinglylittle detail given concerning the idiomaticperformance of the ornaments that are socentral to the monodic style. Instead, thereader is referred to the preface of GiulioCaccini’s ground-breaking collection, Le nuove musiche.
Similarly, there is much useful infor-mation concerning the identity of themost appropriate continuo instruments,but the continuo lines themselves are un-realized. While specialists will not be trou-bled by these omissions, this wonderfulmusic might find even more performancesif the extra information were provided.
As well, this edition presents only thesecular pieces from the collection, abouthalf of the whole work. Let us hope thatthe sacred music might soon also be madeavailable in such a careful modern edition.
While this is, first and foremost, musicfor the voice, recorder players may find itan interesting exercise to attempt to cap-ture some of the colors of the original, orsimply to enjoy the more straightforwardlittle canzonetta pieces.
Scott Paterson
Francesca Caccini and the monodic style
January 2005 27
I hope most readers of this magazinewere as thrilled as I was to read (on page
5 of the September 2004 issue of AR)about Reine-Marie Verhagen’s arrange-ment for recorders of Steve Reich’s Ver-mont Counterpoint. I have recently learnedfrom the New York office of Reich’s pub-lishers, Boosey & Hawkes, that therecorder arrangement will be published inFebruary 2005. Entitled Hague/VermontCounterpoint, it is also available on rentalfrom Boosey & Hawkes. The publisher’sweb site is <www.boosey.com>.
The appearance of recorder music froma major contemporary composer is causefor celebration. The recorder does not lackfor repertoire, but there are few recorderworks by leading composers of the day. Inmy opinion, Steve Reich and Elliott Carterrepresent the pinnacle of contemporaryAmerican composition. Why shouldn’trecorder players have music from figuressuch as these?
To celebrate Verhagen’s arrangementand the forthcoming publication, I want toprovide some information about Reichand, in particular, his series of “counter-point” pieces. Originally for three altoflutes, three flutes, and three piccolos—plus two solo lines, in each of which thesoloist plays, one at a time, all three sizesof instrument—Vermont Counterpoint wascommissioned by flutist Ransom Wilson.The premiere took place at the BrooklynAcademy of Music in New York City, NY,on September 30, 1982, in a concert bySteve Reich and Musicians, his usual per-forming ensemble of the time. Wilson was
the soloist, with the remaining partsplayed on pre-recorded tape, also by Wil-son. Although all of the parts can beplayed “live” by a flute ensemble, Reichhas expressed a preference for the soloistand tape format.
The composer has written of VermontCounterpoint: “The live soloist participatesin the ongoing counterpoint as well asmore extended melodies. The piece couldbe performed by 11 flutists but is intend-ed primarily as a solo with tape. Thoughthe techniques used include several that Idiscovered as early as 1967, the relativelyfast rate of change (there are rarely morethan three repeats of any bar), metric mod-ulation into and out of a slower tempo,and rapid changes of key may well create amore concentrated and concise impres-sion.”
The first recording of the work, againwith Wilson, was issued in 1982 on an LPfrom Angel (EMI), DS 537340. I am unaware of any reissue on CD of this fine recording.
Subsequent compositions in thisseries from Reich include New YorkCounterpoint for solo clarinet with pre-recorded clarinets and bass clarinets;Electric Counterpoint for solo electricguitar with pre-recorded guitars and bass guitar; Cello Counter-point; arrangements of New York Counterpoint for solo saxophone andtape, and for saxophone quartet;Tokyo/Vermont Counterpoint, anarrangement for marimba and tape;and now the recorder arrangement,Hague/Vermont Counterpoint.
Reich is obviously not opposed toarrangements of these delightfulpieces. Although other musicianshave made the arrangements, thecomposer has approved them. Sincethe music is abstract and structural innature, the process is more importantthan the particular instrumental tim-bres. Certainly it is not much of astretch from flutes to recorders, andthe delightful dancing quality of Vermont Counterpoint should be a big hit with recorder players and audiences alike.
It has become a musical cliché to lumpReich with his fellow American composersPhilip Glass and John Adams as minimalists. In truth, the real Americanminimalists—if we take that term to meanreducing music to its bare essentials—are La Monte Young, Alvin Lucier, and theirfollowers. Minimalism is a form of conceptualism: it connotes a lack of devel-opment, and absence of the basic musicparameters of harmony, rhythm, counter-point and structure.
The early conceptual landmarks ofGlass—Music in Similar Motion and Musicin Fifths (both from 1969)—can be described as minimalist, but even Reich’searly conceptual works—such as ComeOut (1966), Piano Phase (1967) or FourOrgans (1970)—have a developmentalscope and expressive power far beyondthe connotations of minimalism. I knownothing by Adams that can accurately belabeled as minimalist.
Since Reich is not only good, but alsopopular with listeners, there are many
ON THE CUTTING EDGE___________________________________ Important recorder music from Steve Reich
In my opinion, Steve Reichand Elliott Carterrepresent the pinnacle of contemporaryAmerican composition.Why shouldn’t recorderplayers have music fromfigures such as these?
Steve Reich, as photographed in2002 by Alice Arnold
28 American Recorder
recordings of his pieces. Among my fa-vorites are Octet (1979), Tehillim (1981),the sublime Music for 18 Musicians (1976),and Different Trains (1988). Realizing thatconventional orchestras and chamber en-sembles are not ideal for the unique soundworld of his pieces, Reich has for manyyears performed his music with his excel-lent ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians.Other ensembles have taken up his musicin recent years, but, to my ears, the per-formances by his own ensemble are themost satisfying, particularly the early ones on the ECM record label.
Recent works include a music andvideo work, Three Tales (2002), and DancePatterns (2002) for two xylophones, twovibraphones and piano. Reich’s currentrecord label, Nonesuch, has issued an extraordinary 10-CD set entitled Steve Reich: Works 1965-1995.
Although he has spawned imitators,particularly among young composers bothhere and abroad, no one does what hedoes nearly so well. It is entertaining, invigorating, and often deeply movingmusic—and now it is part of the recorder world.
Tim Broege <[email protected]>
January 2005 29
Thoughts about Judging Recorders One way to evaluate recorders could besimply to say, “This I like, that I don’t.” A more nuanced approach might be toexplore the fortes and faibles of various instruments in various musical contexts.Here, I’ll consider historical contexts, howearly music probably sounded, and theimplications for choosing appropriate instruments.
I hope that even in subjective lapses,my opinions can at least stimulate a moresatisfyingly intimate realization of rela-tions among music, instruments, andplayers.
The keynote of Baroque music was dramatic, personal expression—the reaction of an individual to events thatform a coherent narrative. So you mightjudge an instrument by the role it couldplay in music.
Recorders were mostly minor figures ingreater dramas, and only in minor worksreceived top billing. The basic character ofa recorder’s sound is innocence—a toneeasily produced, without much effort, andsimple in its attack. The ungenerousmight say “too easily educed,” like thesmile of Browning’s Last Duchess, and sug-gest that “simple” refers to a lack of wit.
This character can be disguised, andeven largely suppressed, in both makingand playing recorders, but it’s been longfelt that innocence and simplicity canheighten both religious and amorous ex-perience. Sophisticated wit counts for lit-tle in moments of truth with either God orlovers. So a recorder can connect the spir-itual and the carnal in ways explicitly un-speakable, to show the heavenliness of ro-mantic love and the humanity of God.Such a theologically sophisticated instru-ment after all!
The “pure” tone of a recorder can actu-ally be quite complex (with organized“noise” that’s musically important, whiledefying analysis)—so, as the simple pipeof a simple rustic, it can play a Figaro-likerole in subverting the recognized social or-der, by showing the rich, but muted, tim-bre of the lowly. It may not be obvious howto realize these roles in music, but as onthe stage, deep and thorough convictionwill usually win out.
A really good player is always adjustingthe degree to which personal artistry andcontrol inhibit the instrument’s intrinsiccharacter, varying the dynamic relation between these two elements of music;thus, a recorder’s ability to give and take is another consideration.
Most Baroque music lay on, or just off,a Franco-Italian axis. Italians were famousfor the extravagance of their personal ex-pression, and most instruments playedroles more suited to a histrion than to thesubtle jugglers of ambivalence in today’stheater. From the evidence of harpsi-chords, high pitch, and an early preferencefor small numbers of voices in counter-point, Italian music probably had a bright,incisive sound. “React swiftly, reactstrongly, and tell a story” might be the Italian motto. An instrument should imi-tate vocal effects with flexibility of dynam-ics, tone-color, and attack. The violin wasthe solo instrument, and Alberti figures
sound better without pops and clicks be-tween notes and registers. Every man wasa virtuoso, but with a dramatic feeling thatgoes back to laude, and through ricercareand madrigals.
French music was more sensual, with adeeper diapason. It had a more formalstructure, and related more to corporalmovement, which unappreciators heardas formulaic dance patterns. The Frenchthemselves heard vigor, and probably enjoyed the image of a virile gentilhommewith an erect viol between his legs. Whennot downright vigorous, the music couldbe majestic, plaintive, or gaie, but alwayswith a strong character, and within thelimits of le bon goût.
These characters can be admixed invarying tinctures, and the genius ofFrench music seems to be in the preciseexpression of the variety of such confec-tions. Rather than presenting a varied dra-ma, French music shows the mixtures,sometimes odd and bizarre, of humorsand human temperaments. The Frenchdon’t fear paradox, and are commonlyweaned on logical contradiction. And themusic is sensual, in timbre and in move-ment. They kept the noble plaintiveness ofthe viol long after the rest of Europe tookup fiddling, and danced their way througheven serious operas. A good provingground for a French instrument might bea run around the mock mockery of 16th
RESPONSE___________________________________More on adding a lutenist to a recorder ensemble, and
judging recorders on an historical basis
A really good player isalways adjusting thedegree to which personalartistry and controlinhibit the instrument’sintrinsic character....
30 American Recorder
century voix de ville, the agréments à gogoof Hotteterre’s Musette method, and theaffective sung dances of L’Affillard’s Trèsfaciles principes.
German music borrowed extensivelyfrom Italian and French, but it’s hard tosay how deep, as well as broad, that bor-rowing was. Did they imitate the light, vig-orous poise of the French (the superficialpolish that permits a view within) or thefrenetic reactivity of Italians? To what extent did they add good German substance (far be it from me to say “heavi-ness”) to these foreign tastes that were disdained while being envied and ad-mired? Did Telemann hear his A [minor]suite as real French music—or, as is themodern tradition, with little to do withFrench style and the movements’ titles?
I see “sincerity” as the main feature ofGerman culture (despite there being noreally equivalent German word), so a German recorder, besides having both (orneither) French and Italian qualities, andeasy top notes, might have a menschlichevoice, with lots of Herz and Seele.
English music might be like the German, but largely unburdened by“soul” and “sincerity,” and with fewer de-mands on upper notes: a little French, alittle Italian, with Scots and Irish to taste.
Renaissance music was more interna-tionally uniform, but with variants at thefringes of time and place. There was a har-monic revolution in the early to mid-15thcentury—the contenance angloise, comingfrom Britain, home of harmony, to France.The general sound of this harmony—richin thirds and sixths, with sparing use ofdissonance—lasted well into the 17thcentury. It arrived later and less thorough-ly in Italy and Spain, and started earlier inBritain.
“Renaissance ” recorders seem to havebeen made to exploit this sound to a pow-erful effect.
A secondary criterion is ethos, or char-acter. There’s little evidence that the Renaissance sought excitement in music,although many movements are thrillinglyspine-cracking; perhaps normal life wasexciting enough. Music’s job was to putpeople back together again after being tornapart by life’s hurly-burly, the humors setagain in balance, the hesychastic, calmethos restored.
Music could exercise the humors
(divided into the expansive diastolic, andcontracting systolic ethoi) and throughcatharsis purge their excesses. Integer vita(“whole life”), sprezzatura (“cool dis-dain”), and musica reservata (just what wasreserved or on reserve?) may touch on thenotion of one’s proper self and balance. Soa Renaissance recorder needs to take youthrough variations of the four humors,and, with an overall grace of sound, getyou back to sanity.
Of course it does all this, powerful har-mony and Samsonite (“out of the strongcame the sweet”) ethos, in ensembles (justas even Baroque instruments should reactstrongly with other sounds). With the arrival of the contenance angloise came acouple generations of rather lyrical, butnot very text-sensitive, music in France.
Then came Josquin and the boys, withan age of fast, virtuosic music full of lots ofnotes and bouncy syncopations that oftenseem at odds with sad texts (a hesychastic[silently, mystically prayerful] mayonnaiseof the immiscible systole and diastole?).
Then, towards the middle of the 16thcentury, music became slower again, andthe words more important. So more andmore, through the second half of the 16thcentury, recorders playing madrigals, etc.,need to express text, the sounds, syntax,and meaning of words, and some of theearlier qualities may need to be sacrificed.You may need a gentle, noiseless attack onupper notes more than the powerfulsound and sense of ethos that are often incompatible with it.
Back to the fringes, there’s mention inthe Renaissance of church and chambervoices—the latter more expressively mod-ulated, the former ringingly space-filling.Some Italian and Spanish music well intothe 16th century seems to benefit fromthis “church” sound, which may be a rem-nant of earlier Medieval sonorities. Inrecorders, this seems best heard fromcylindrical bores, which are commonlythought of as “Medieval.” Knowing almostnothing about Medieval styles of soundand playing, we can’t say much more thansuch recorders should make strong, clearharmony in early laude, etc. For playingdances and in oddly mixed ensembles, it’sanyone’s guess, although noisy, breathy“folk” flutes seem more interesting.
About “Ganassi” recorders, there’s lit-tle to say except they should roughly fol-low his fingerings and shape, and stick tomusic roughly of his time. The designseems closer in timbre to earlier “cylindri-cal” flutes, with their “harder,” clearersound, than to later ones, but what, if any,
Responses from our readers are welcomed and maybe sent to American Recorder, 7770 South High St.,
Centennial, CO 80122. Letters may be edited for length and consistency.
January 2005 31
proper use they had is not evident. A widerange of 15th- to 16th-century “solo” mu-sic (and frottole) might be their bailiwick.
Not many people and cultures think ofthemselves as “transitional,” yet theterm is applied to recorders for early-17th century music, as if they wereholding their breath for what we call thehigh Baroque to begin. Frescobaldi as a“transitional” composer?
Music of that time needs a certain“flexibility,” but perhaps a clearer “Italian”tone than the coy, covered sensuality ofthe later Baroque. Early Italian organs of-ten had less complex and varied stopsthan their northern cousins, sometimesjust the same timbre repeated at variouspitch levels—that bright, strong “church”voice. And a Baroque violin can have ahard, pure sound in Italian music.
A recorder as an instrument for musicper se may not be the same tool as for personal projection or introspective satisfaction. Its best test is in a musicalcontext, what it does making music, andhow it contributes to an overall sound andimpression.
Bob Marvin, Eustis, ME
Intabulation using FinalePursuant to the question about adding alute to your consort [in the November2004 Q&A column in AR]:
[The music software] Finale makes itrelatively easy to add a tablature part forlute once you have a piece in a Finale file.Just create a lute staff with the Staff SetupWizard, then drag mensural notation tothe tablature staff with the Edit tool. Finaleautomatically makes the mensural nota-tion into TAB.
A couple of caveats:1) Make sure the staff is notated at the
pitch you want the lute to play in. A lot ofrecorder consort music is notated an octave high.
2) You may need to halve the time sig-nature so the stems will work out for thelutenist. Do that with the Change menuunder the Edit Tool.
I’ve shown an example [see Praetoriuspiece above].
And how do you get your consort pieceinto Finale notation? Finale allows you toscan printed music and convert it to Finalefiles with SmartMusic OCR software.
Finale is a bit grumpy about doing allthis, as it is with everything else. But witha little experimentation it’s not too hard topull it off. And the result is beautiful.
By the way, you probably know thatDowland published his lute songs in settings for four voices (SATB) and lute. Ifone has a lutenist good enough to playDowland, those songs can be played withlute and consort or lute and solo recorder.
Bill Long, St. Charles, MO
&VV??
TAB
#####
44444444
44
descant
recorder
treble
recorder
tenor
recorder
bass
recorder
lute
lute
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ
c b ce a c
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ
ac
a c
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
e c ae c e
a c
&VV??
#####
4 œ œœœ œœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ
4
œ œ œ œ œ œ4
cc e a c
a
œ œ œ œœœ œ œœœœ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ# œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
a
cc
cc
a
c
œœœœœ œœœœœœ# œœ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ .œ# œœœ# œ œ œ œœ# œ œ œ œ
b ca c
c
œ œ œ œœœ œ œ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ œ œ œ œ œœœ œœ œ œ œ œ œœœ œ
c c cc c e
b ca
œ œœœœœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œa
c ee
acca
Bransle double 1
Michael Praetorius
Honeysuckle Music
Recorders & accessories. . .
Music for recorders & viols
Jean Allison Olson1604 Portland Ave.St. Paul, MN 55104
32 American Recorder
Q & A___________________________________ Copyright law and recorder players
Question: I am a beginning music teacherand would like some information about
copyright laws. Would it be permissible for meto make photocopies of a few lessons from apublished method book for the students in myrecorder class? Would it be permissible for meto copy one or two dances out of a publishedcollection for the ensemble I am coaching? —J. L., Cumberland, MD
Answer from Eric Haas: It is not permis-sible to copy any copyrighted material
for someone else’s use. You may not copyeven portions of a published recordermethod for classroom use, not even thefingering chart. However, you may printout any fingering chart posted online(such as the ones on the Dolmetsch website) for your class.
Hardly a week goes by that a customerat the Von Huene Workshop doesn’t say tome, “Oh, I only need one copy. I’ll Xerox itfor my friend.” A good friend and col-
league once informed me that he some-times copied selections from my own pub-lished collections for use by his local ARSchapter. I (politely, I hope) commented
that he was violating copyright laws andoffered to give him permission to make thecopies he needed for a nominal fee.
You can always ask, but when class-room recorder methods are available for aslittle as $3.50 each, it is unlikely the pub-lisher will give you permission to makecopies.
There is a general misconception in theearly music community that it is permissi-ble to copy up to 10% of any publishedmaterial for “educational purposes.” Using this standard, some teachers photo-copy significant portions of collections fortheir students or ensembles. It is not legalto copy any “performable unit,” such as apiece from an anthology or a movement ofa larger work, but you may copy brief por-tions for illustrative purposes as long asthey don’t constitute a performable unit.
You may make copies of music for public performance so long as you havesufficient performing material on orderfrom the copyright holder for each per-former. Temporary copies should bemarked, “Authorized copy: music on or-der from copyright holder.” When theprinted materials are in hand, the photo-copies must be destroyed. You may notpurchase one set of parts or one score andmake multiple copies, and you may notmake photocopies because the music istoo expensive.
If music is out of print, you should firstcontact the copyright holder (usually thepublisher) to see if an authorized copy canbe provided. You may photocopy musicthat is out of print as long as you havemade a “reasonable effort” to obtain themusic legally from the copyright holder. (If the copyright holder has not respondedto your initial request after a month, trycontacting him/her again. If there is still noresponse after the second attempt, youshould be able to copy the music.)
There is a detailed FAQ aboutcopyright issues on the Music Publishers Association web site, <http:// www.mpa.org>. If you are think-ing of making photocopies, I’d urge you toread through that source carefully.
Eric Haas is a professional performer andteacher of recorder and Baroque flute, as wellas an editor and publisher of music collections for recorder ensembles. He alsosells sheet music and method books at the Von Huene Workshop/Early Music Shop ofNew England.
There is a generalmisconception ... that it is permissible to copy up to 10% of anypublished material for“educational purposes.”
Send questions to Carolyn Peskin, Q&A Editor, 3559 Strathavon Road, Shaker Heights, OH 44120;
RECORDERS
LATE PLEASURES–SERENADE FORSOPRANO RECORDER AND VIOLIN(2001), BY RONALD J. AUTENRIETH. MoeckZFS 742 (Magnamusic), 2001. S rec andviolin. Sc 6 pp. $7.
The composer Ronald Joachim Auten-rieth (born 1959) has participated inmany musical roles—as German musicteacher, critic, church musician and com-poser. He has composed/arranged piecesfor organ, choir and piano as well as a largenumber of works for recorder. His outputincludes easier music for amateurs as wellas popular music.
Since I am both a violinist and arecorder player, I was delighted to receivethis piece for review. I played both partsonto a digital multi-track recorder so thatI would hear the piece with its intendedorchestration. I was pleasantly surprisedby how much I enjoyed the final product.
Late Pleasures has three movementsentitled “leicht bewegt” (easily moving),“eher ruhig” (calmly), and “vivace.” Eventhough there are no key signatures and theharmonies are obviously contemporary,there is a sense of the note G as the tonalcenter. At the same time, the essentialatonality and use of unprepared/unre-solved dissonance gives the piece spots oftight intensity. Ironically, since it is a sere-nade, it should be performed with a cer-tain amount of insouciance.
In the first movement, the violin andthe recorder begin in expressive contrarymotion. Eventually this switches to similarmotion emphasizing parallel seconds, cre-ating a very concentrated musical climax.
The second movement consists mostlyof half-note double stops in the violinagainst a wandering melody in therecorder part. The middle section involvesleaps of sevenths and octaves that mightsend the recorder player to the practiceroom.
The third movement is great fun—thefaster played, the better. There are synco-
pated rhythms creating entertainingrhythmic interplay, some parallel secondsand good old-fashioned parallel thirds,plus some use of harmonics in the violinpart.
This piece, although not technicallydifficult for the recorder player or the vio-linist, is targeted towards fairly advancedmusic students because of its musical demands. For the recorder player, thereare slurred cantabile lines involving fairlywide intervals, and at the opposite end ofthe spectrum there is an extended stac-catissimo passage (an extreme form of verydetached staccato). While the notes aresimple, the slurs and the rapid staccatissi-mos are difficult to play with style, and require a player who has progressed beyond simply being able to play the rightnotes.
The violinist also has very easy notes;in fact, this piece leaves the first positiononly once (maybe twice if the harmonicsare played in third position). However, thefirst movement is going to sound muchnicer with a fairly intense and controlledvibrato from the violinist.
The double stops in the second move-ment are mostly sixths and sevenths, andnot all of them use an open string. Thesedouble stops are fairly challenging for stu-dent violinists to play with good tone qual-ity and good intonation.
The middle section of the secondmovement instructs the violinist to omitvibrato and play close to the bridge. This isa fairly advanced bowing technique, asplaying too close to the bridge for an inex-perienced player can result in a nastyscratchy sound.
The staccatissimo in the third move-ment is easiest to play with a fairly aggres-sive bouncing bow. Therefore, the notesare easy, but the music is difficult.
The title Late Pleasures conjures up im-ages of relaxation at the end of a busy day.As thoughts of the day bring remembered
tensions and releases, the music paintsthis picture nicely. The piece ends on aconsonant G major chord—the final release of tension!
TRIPLE FIPPLE, BY ALAN BULLARD.Peacock Press P30 (Provincetown Book-shop), 1998. ATB. Sc 7 pp, pts 2 pp each.Price $6.95. Note: This piece can also bepurchased scored for SAT recs at a price of$7.35.
Alan Bullard was born in London in1947 and studied with Herbert Howells atthe Royal College of Music and withArnold Whittall at Nottingham University.For over 20 years, he has lived in Colchester, Essex, where he is Head ofComposition at Colchester Institute. As a composer he is prolific and wide-ranging, having written in most genres for both amateurs and professionals. For a complete list of his compositions, see <http://alan.bullardtripod.com/id20.htm>. This list includes a number of recorder compositions for young recorder players.
Triple Fipple, which is approximatelythree minutes long, is considered to be aGrade 5 piece in the UK. It was commis-sioned by Jackey Birch, the director of theKingswood Recorders.
I am reviewing the ATB version versionof Triple Fipple. I don’t have a lot to sayabout this piece, other than that I fell inlove with it on first hearing. It is delightful,fun to hear and play, and not technically orrhythmically difficult. It would add a light,somewhat humorous encore to a heavierprogram, and youngsters will absolutelylove it.
MUSICREVIEWS___________________________________
Relaxing after a busy day, rock and jazz recorder, recorders with organ, violin or voice
January 2005 33
I don’t have a lot to say
about this piece, other
than that I fell in love
with it on first hearing.
34 American Recorder
Triple Fipple is a light jazzy piece withsome finger clicking, some parallel rootposition triads that descend chromatical-ly, and a neat bass part, where the basssings away on the melody while punctuat-ed with rhythmic touches from the sopra-no and alto. There is a really nice extendedhomophonic passage in which the threeparts are playing mostly parallel root position triads. The rhythms may be a bit tricky for those not accustomed to play-ing jazzy metric notations, but the partscome together easily.
I’d recommend this piece to middle-school-aged students, and I’d also recom-mend it for adult groups who want to havea bit of fun. It is definitely a winner! I’m going to keep my eyes open for other newmusic from Bullard.
Susan Groskreutz
FANTASIA ROCKICA, BY EGONZIESMANN. Moeck ZFS 766 (Magnamusic), 2001. SAAT. Sc 4 pp, pts 4 pp. $7.
German composer Egon Ziesmann’sFantasia Rockica seems at first glance tobe quite a simple piece. It is mostly homophonic, with simple rhythms andsome prominent passages of repeatednotes. The difficulty, and the charm, ofthe piece enter arm in arm with the second word of the title. This is rock music for the recorder quartet!
The individual parts are not difficult,but learning to play this music as a unified ensemble, sharing an authenticrock feeling, may offer some fun—andperhaps a challenge—to many groups.
The first section builds gradually to atutti chord to be played five times. Need-less to say, five identical articulations willnot suffice! It’s important here (andthroughout this piece) to observe correctand idiomatic articulation.
Having so little dynamic range,recorders have little else but articulationwith which to create feeling in a piece ofmusic. This goes double in a rock style.The composer has carefully given us very
precise articulation marks—which, however, may still need further interpre-tation (shared among the group) to arriveat a real rock feeling.
The second section features a solo fortenor, accompanied by percussive figuresin the three upper instruments. Anothersection is a tutti “shout chorus.”
We have all heard music like this;many of us have never played it onrecorders nor seen it in notation. Makingmusic out of notes, especially in a novelidiom, requires that, once we have mas-tered the notes and rhythms, we experi-ment as an ensemble with the nuancesof the music until our performancematches our understanding of the genre.
It takes correct and accurate articula-tion to make these notes into rock music.Even the rests may require special treat-ment. Working on these types of problems in rehearsal can be a very valuable experience for an ensemble.
I recommend this piece both for itsmusicality, and for the good experienceto be derived from the process of learningto play it.
Charles Gamble
AVE MARIS STELLA (2 SETTINGS),BY JEAN TITELOUZE, ED. BERNARD THOMAS.London Pro Musica EML 381 (Magnamusic), 2001. SATB. 4 sc, 2 pp ea.$5.
When compared to the vast amountsof music surviving from Italy, Germanyand England, French Renaissance music is quite meager in quantity but not in quality.
Jean (Jehan) Titelouze is now an ob-scure figure, but during his lifetime washighly regarded as a composer, a writer,and, like Bach, an organ consultant. Hewas born c.1562 in St. Omer, which wasthen part of the Spanish Netherlands. Hebecame a French citizen in 1604, havingtaken up residence in Rouen in 1585. Hewon awards for his poetry in 1613 and1630. He died in Rouen in 1633.
Titelouze also was the first French com-poser to publish organ music in volumes.His 1623 volume provided the source forthese two pieces, since he did not publishensemble music as such. Titelouze wasrenowned for the rigor of his contrapuntalwriting. These pieces are in four partsthroughout.
The first setting has the “Ave maris stel-la” plainchant in the bass part in wholenotes, while the upper parts have interme-diate level figurations over this groundbass.
The second setting more closely resem-bles a fugue. Both pieces are suitable forintermediate consorts. There are fewrhythmic eccentricities and intonationshould not be a problem.
As always with the Early Music Libraryseries, this edition is a model of clarity.Each player has an individual score andpage turns are not an issue, since each set-ting fits comfortably onto two pages.
Thomas also includes some brief biog-raphical material on Titelouze, a mentionof his editorial practice, and the originalplainchant on the back cover. This is a verysatisfying edition for a small consort.
Frank Cone
WIR DANKEN DIR, HERR JESUCHRIST, BY DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE, ARR.NORMAN LUFF. Polyphonic Publ. PP 168(Magnamusic), 2002. SAAB, 4 sc 2 ppeach. $5.
This is an arrangement for fourrecorders of a short organ work, a choraleprelude by the renowned Danish organistDietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707). Buxte-hude studied music with his father, whowas also a church organist, and served atchurches in Helsingborg and Elsinore before being appointed to the prestigiousposition of organist at the Marienkirche at Lübeck, Germany.
There he instituted a regular series ofmusical performances (Abendmusiken),which were held on five Sundays a year.Among the notable musicians who cameto Lübeck to be inspired by Buxtehudewere G. F. Handel and J. S. Bach.
The text of the chorale, on which Wirdanken dir, Herr Jesu Christ is based, isloosely translated by Denver (CO) ARSchapter member (and professional trans-lator) Chris Hollingsworth: “We thankyou, Lord Jesus Christ that you became amortal from a virgin; That is the truth; Thehosts of angels rejoice; Halleluiah.” There-fore this piece is particularly appropriatefor the Christmas season, but could beused year round in church as a short prel-ude or interlude.
The individual parts weave in and outin rich sonorities, complementing eachother in florid counterpoint with some im-itation, and ending with a dramatic flour-ish by the soprano. This chorale is highlyrecommended as a worthwhile challengefor intermediate groups.
The publication is clearly printed withnotes large enough for two to share astand, and four scores are furnished. Notincluded, though—regretfully, to mymind—is any information about the
The difficulty, and thecharm, of the piece enterarm in arm with thesecond word of the title.This is rock music for the recorder quartet!
January 2005 35
source, historical background, or even atranslation of the title.
IL EST BEL ET BON, BY PIERRE
PASSEREAU, ARR. KEN ANDRESEN.Polyphonic Publications PP 165 (Magnamusic), 2002. SATB. 4 sc 2 pp ea. $5.75.
In this light-hearted chanson, a womanbrags about her “bel et bon” husband whodoes the housework and feeds the chick-ens. The music works well played onrecorders, as intended in this textless edi-tion, but the addition of a singer wouldbring out the fun of the words—even when sung in French for an English-speaking audience. The husbandis not only “bel et bon” but “bon, bon,bon, bon, bon,” and the chickens cluckaway in the lower parts against the words“petite coquette” that are repeated in thetop part. Some of these vocal effects can bebrought out with recorder articulation,but a setting of the text with the musicwould be helpful in this regard.
Andresen does include a loose transla-tion of the text, but an edition by RichardGeisler of the same chanson (published in 1991 by The Village & Early Music Society) sets the text to the top part and also includes a line-by-line translation. Unfortunately the Geisler edition is over-edited to my taste, but is well worth consulting—as well as the choral settingpublished by the Bourne Company, NewYork, to which Geisler refers.
Another recorder arrangement by PaulClark of this chanson, Il est bel e bon, waspublished in 1996 by Hawthorns Music(RA74, available through Magnamusic)and reviewed in the September 1997 issueof this magazine. Clark has transposed thechanson down a fourth to fit AATBrecorders, but again the text is omitted.Clark has been very cautious about addingmusica ficta, so players using his editionshould consider adding appropriate acci-dentals at cadences.
This Hawthorns edition also includes acompanion piece, Canzon sopra “I le bel ebon” by Gerolamo Cavazzoni, which isbased on the opening theme of thePassereau chanson. These two pieces gowell paired together in performance—particularly when using the Andresen edition of the chanson, because its brightSATB range contrasts nicely with the lower AATB setting of the canzona.
2 SERIOUS SONGS, BY WILLIAM BYRD,London Pro Musica EML 369 (Magnamusic), 2000. 5 voices or instruments, 5 scores, 4 pp. each. $5.50.2 CANZONETS (1597), BY THOMAS
MORLEY, London Pro Musica EML 382(Magnamusic), 2001. 5 voices or instru-ments, 5 scores, 4 pp. each. $5.50.WEEP NO MORE, THOU SORRY BOY,BY THOMAS TOMKINS, London Pro MusicaLPM 557 (Magnamusic), 2003. 4 voices orinstruments, Sc 10 pp, 5 pts (extra tenorpart in alto clef) 3 pp ea. $7.
Here are a total of six rather sombersongs, which should be sung with or with-out instruments in order to communicatetheir emotional content to the audience.
One of the Byrd songs, Come to me grieffor ever, was composed for the funeral ofSir Philip Sidney, who was a courtier ofQueen Elizabeth. After Sidney died ahero’s death from battle wounds, he wasgiven an elaborate state funeral in St.Paul’s Cathedral.
Byrd’s other song in this edition, Mineeyes with fervency of sprite, pessimisticallyinvokes the Lord who “dwellest in light,which no man may come nigh.”
Morley’s canzonets, Ay me! The fatalarrow and Love took his bow and arroware light pieces with gory words about Cupid’s arrow that “Hath plucked andpierced my liver,” and that “slew his mother’s sparrow.”
The first section of Tomkins’ Weep NoMore, Thou Sorry Boy was dedicated to hisbrother Peregrine Tomkins. It describesthe “thousand passions” love brings, including “If she smiles, he dancing goes,”but “If she chide with angry eye, Ay me, I die.” The second section, “Yet Again, AsSoon Revived,” was dedicated to anotherbrother, Robert Tomkins. Similarly, it de-scribes the joys and sorrows of love, thenreturns to the words that begin the firstsection, “Then weep no more, thou sorryboy,” and ends with the positive advice,“Turn thy tears to weeping joy.”
Musically these pieces reflect theirtexts. For instance, Byrd creates tension in
his funeral elegy by setting “just grief,heart, tears…” in descending minor thirdsin the soprano against syncopations in thetenor.
The two Morley pieces make dramaticuse of contrasting textures. The first onebegins with an affective suspension on “Ay me!” followed by a declamatory homophonic section. Then the note val-ues become smaller to describe the bloodand the venom, and the piece ends with astretto-like setting of “Alas,…my heart outweepeth.”
Even more variety and quick changesof texture appear in the Tomkins two-section piece. For example, the words“and sighs,” sung as a hocket between thetop and the lower three voices, are imme-diately followed by embellishments on thewords “and sings” sung in melodiousthirds.
These pieces are not difficult to play onrecorders, but their interest lies in theirtexts as related to the music. For an effec-tive performance, at least one singer isneeded.
EIGHT BALLETTI (1596), BY GIOVANNI
GASTOLDI, ED. BERNARD THOMAS. LondonPro Musica LPM TM37 (Magnamusic),1983. 5 voices or instruments. 5 scores,16 pp ea. $11.25.BALLETTS (1595), SELECTION I, BY
THOMAS MORLEY, ED. BERNARD THOMAS.London Pro Musica LPM TM63. (Magnamusic), 1986. 5 voices or instruments. 5 scores, 12 pp ea. $11.25.SIX LIEDER FROM LUSTGARTEN(1601), BY HANS LEO HASSLER, ED.BERNARD THOMAS. London Pro MusicaLPM TM26. (Magnamusic), 1981. 5 voices or instruments. 5 scores, 12 ppea. $11.25.ENGLISH BALLAD TUNES IN POLY-PHONIC SETTINGS (C.1600), ED.BERNARD THOMAS. London Pro MusicaLPM TM51. (Magnamusic), 1985. 4 or 5instruments. 5 scores, 12 pp ea. $11.25.
These four London Pro Musica editions have long been out of print butare again available—thankfully, this timewith five scores (instead of only one) in-cluded in a sturdy, dark red and tan folder.All of these publications have been favorites of mine throughout the years,both for large-group playing and singing at chapter meetings and workshops, andfor one-on-a-part intermediate-level consorts. They all include ample notes oneditorial practice, historical backgroundand sources, along with ranges and incipits for each piece. Only one of the edi-
The husband is not only “bel et bon” but “bon, bon, bon, bon, bon,”and the chickens cluckaway in the lower parts....
tions, by Morley, has been previously re-viewed in American Recorder (May 1989).In that review, Stewart Carter mentionedsome minor mistakes that have been cor-rected in the new publication.
Some songs in the first three of thesecollections make an interesting compari-son because Morley and Hassler oftenbased their light vocal music on the ballet-tos by Gastoldi, who is credited with inventing the form. Examples of this relationship are Morley’s Sing we and chantit and Hassler’s Tantzen und Springen,both modeled on Gastoldi’s L’innamorato.
The original title page of Gastoldi’s firstset of ballettos indicates that they are for“singing, playing and dancing.” Basicallyhomophonic and rhythmically structuredas popular Renaissance dances, they arequite danceable—whereas Morley’s,which are more texturally complicated,were probably not intended for dancing.Hassler’s balletto-like songs retain Gastol-di’s rhythmic homophonic structure, butare often more sophisticated harmonical-ly. The melody of one of Hassler’s songs inthis edition, “Mein Gmüt ist mir ver-wirret,” was later transformed from thissecular dance song to the chorale O Hauptvoll Blut und Wunden that J. S. Bach used inhis St. Matthew’s Passion and is known tomany as the Easter hymn O Sacred Head.
English Ballad Tunes is a collection byThomas of 10 early 17th-century ensem-ble settings of popular English melodies.Some of the tunes are familiar to recorderplayers because of their inclusion inmethod books and collections for begin-ning ensembles. For instance, themelodies of two different “Courantes” byMichael Praetorius in this edition arethose of the English ballads Packington’sPound and Light of Love, arrangements ofwhich are in Claude Simpson’s Eliza-bethan & Shakespearean Musicke for theRecorder.
Also in this set of English Ballad Tunesare two early settings of “Rowland,” whichhas the same melody as Lord Willoughby inSimpson’s collection. Thomas has also in-cluded early settings of two melodies familiar to Van Eyck players: “Daphne,” inan anonymous quintet, and “Silvester,” asa “Tantz” by Valentin Haussmann.
Note: Two companion volumes to theeditions reviewed here have also been re-published by London Pro Musica: Ballettsby Thomas Morley, Selection II (LPMTM68) and Seven Balletti by Giacomo Gas-toldi (LPM TM45). Both are for five voicesor instruments and sell for $11.25.
Constance M. Primus
ALMA REDEMPTORIS MATER, BY
JOSQUIN DES PRÉS, ED. BERNARD THOMAS.London Pro Musica LPM 562 (Magnamusic), 2003. 4 voices or insts., Sc 6 pp, pts 2 pp. $5.50.AVE MARIA, BY JOSQUIN DES PRÉS, ED.BERNARD THOMAS. London Pro MusicaLPM 552 (Magnamusic), 2003. 4 voices orinsts., Sc 6 pp., pts 2 pp. $6.CUEURS DESOLEZ (3 SETTINGS), BY
MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL OF JOSQUIN, ED.BERNARD THOMAS. London Pro MusicaLPM 558 (Magnamusic), 2003. 4-5 voicesor instruments, Sc 14 pp, pts 4 pp. $10.
Josquin des Prés was one of the mostaccomplished and influential composersin the history of music, but his style issometimes difficult for inexperienced lis-teners to fully appreciate, bridging as itdoes the more abstract early Renaissancemanner of Johannes Ockeghem with thehigh Renaissance expressiveness of AdrianWillaert. One of the best ways of makingJosquin’s acquaintance is to play his mu-sic—and, thankfully, it is clear that afford-able editions such as these make that aneasy thing to do.
As Bernard Thomas points out in histypically concise and informative notes,both Alma Redemptoris Mater and AveMaria were among the most popular ofJosquin’s works, having been preserved inat least eight and 12 contemporarysources respectively. Alma RedemptorisMater cleverly combines two long piecesof plainchant (printed in full in this edi-tion), but does this in such as way as toseem quite fluent and natural. There is nocantus firmus as such, since Josquin applies rhythms to the principal chant inthe tenor so as to match the character ofthe other parts. The most striking aspect ofthe music is the richness of effect achievedby the low tessitura: the piece suits a TTTB recorder consort perfectly.
Ave Maria features a greater variety of
textures, with duets, passages of homo-phonic writing, and a passage in tripletime to contrast with the basic imitativestyle. The scoring would work with SAABor SATB recorders.
The three pieces of the Cueurs desolezcollection feature music by composersunidentified in the source, but tentativelynamed here as Pierre de la Rue (Cueurs des-olez/Dies illa) and Josquin himself (Cueursdesolez and Cueur desolez plorans ploravit).
The four-part chanson is expanded andamplified in the five-part settings in an intriguing way that the grouping of thethree pieces helps to illuminate. Each por-trays the lamenting nature of the text veryeffectively. The four-part setting wouldwork with an ATTB or STTB consort, whileCueur desolez plorans ploravit would workwith S(A)S(A)TTB. The de la Rue has a toppart that ranges from B below the treblestaff to F at the top of the staff, but the oth-er parts fit TTBB well.
All of this music would suit even a low-er intermediate ensemble willing to do alittle rhythmic study. As usual with Lon-don Pro Musica editions, the presentationis thorough and thoughtful, with text un-derlay in both score and parts and pageturns avoided in the parts. An Englishtranslation is provided for Alma redemp-toris mater and Ave Maria—though not,strangely, for the Cueurs desolez pieces,where it also would have been of assistance.
The accuracy of the editions is good,though there are a few typographical errors such as editorial accidentals presentin the score but missing in the part. Thereis one mysterious B/B clash in the penul-timate bar of the de la Rue that will need tobe resolved by the performers. Interiorparts are made available in C clefs for theuse of mixed ensembles.
CHACONY, Z.730, BY HENRY
PURCELL, ED. JOSEPH A. LOUX, JR.Loux Music Company LMP-157,<www.recordershop.com>, 2001. ATBB(or strings/viols). Sc 11 pp, pts 3 pp ea.$11.50.3 PARTS UPON A GROUND, Z.731,BY HENRY PURCELL, ED. JOSEPH A. LOUX,JR. Loux Music Company LMP-173, 2001. AAA bc. Sc 17 pp, pts 3 pp ea. $12.
Like J.S. Bach, Henry Purcell is one ofthe greatest composers for the recorder,even though his writing for the instrumentis found predominantly as part of hislarge-scale vocal music.
Unlike Bach, Purcell also wrote somechamber music especially for the
36 American Recorder
The most striking aspect of the music is the richness of effect achieved by the low tessitura: the piece suits a TTBB recorder consort perfectly.
recorder—most notably the Three PartsUpon a Ground, edited here by Joseph A.Loux, Jr.
Loux has also edited the famous Chacony in such a way that it can be per-formed by the original string group and/orby recorders.
In both editions, Loux does not hesi-tate to put forward his own ideas and pref-erences, explaining his general approachin detailed editorial notes and suggestingwithin the music itself alterations and additions to ornamentation, slurring,phrasing—and even, on occasion, to theactual notes and rhythms to be played.While Loux’s contributions are extensive,especially in regard to ornamentation, it isgenerally possible to reconstruct Purcell’soriginal intentions.
Mary Mageau’s continuo realizationsin both works are effective but relativelyplain, and could easily be elaborated uponby enterprising keyboard players uncom-fortable with improvising a complete real-ization for themselves. Mary Connolly hasprovided bowings in the Chacony parts.
In regard to the famous incompleteseventh statement of the ground in threeparts, Loux puts forward the novel theorythat Purcell may have deliberately left thepassage incomplete in order that perform-ers might have the pleasure of completingthe puzzle canon for themselves. In thisspirit, Loux explains the intended musicaleffect and provides six different comple-tions by various editors in his notes—butleaves the passage blank in the score andparts, to allow performers to fill in their favorite solution.
In general, Loux’s suggestions yield agood musical result (although the recom-mended ATBB scoring for the Chaconydoes cause the third part frequently tocross the bass if recorders alone are used).Performers new to this repertoire, however, may want to start with a morestraightforward Urtext edition and thenenjoy exploring Loux’s ideas.
The presentation is generally good—although the page turns are difficult forthe recorders in the Chacony, and there aresome markings in the parts there that arenot found in the score and vice versa.
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January 2005 37
KEY: rec=recorder; S’o=sopranino; S=soprano; A=alto; T=tenor; B=bass; gB=great bass; cB= contrabass; Tr=treble; qrt=quartet; pf=piano; fwd= fore-word; opt=optional; perc=percussion; pp= pages;sc=score; pt(s)=part(s); kbd=keyboard; bc=bassocontinuo; hc=harpsichord; P/H=postage and han-dling. Multiple reviews by one reviewer are followed bythat reviewer’s name. Please submit music for review to:Constance M. Primus, Box 608, 1097 Main St., George-town, CO 80444.
NOTTURNO, BY F. J. DUSSEK, ARR.ULRICH HERRMANN. Noetzel N 3954 (C.F. Peters), 2003. AAT. Sc 12 pp, pts 6 pp. $16.95.CONCERTO IN D MINOR, BY G. F.HANDEL. ARR.ULRICH HERRMANN. NoetzelN 3908 (C.F. Peters), 2003. S(T)TB. Sc 18 pp, pts 7 pp. $22.CONCERTO, OP. 8, NO. 4 “L’INVERNO,” BY ANTONIO VIVALDI, ARR. JEAN CASSIGNOL. Noetzel N 3941(C.F. Peters), 2003. SAB/AAB/ASB/ATB. Sc16 pp, pts 7 pp. $16.95.
These three new issues of recorder triosfrom Noetzel nicely illustrate the sort offlexibility that frequently characterizes therecorder ensemble.
The composer of Notturno is not thewell-known pianist-composer JanLadislav Dussek, but his younger brotherFranz Josef (1765-1817). The work wasoriginally composed for three flutes andconsists of three movements: a sonata-form “Allegro,” an ornate “AndanteGrazioso,” and a rhythmic “Rondo” (Tem-po di Polacca). The piece is in the highClassical style with a hint of the early Ro-mantic, but the original scoring for flutesand its character as a nocturnal serenademean that the mood is light throughout.
The AAT scoring maintains the warmthof the flute tone—and the transparency of Dussek’s writing, coupled with Herrmann’s judicious arranging, meansthat the recorders can convey much of thecharacter of the original. There are rela-tively few expression marks, but the con-trasting melodic figures will encourageperformers to seek a wide range of color.Fluency is required at the top and the bottom of the recorder range, but the music would be quite approachable for anintermediate ensemble. As always, it is atreat to enjoy music from a period thatdoes not normally involve the recorder.
The Handel Concerto is a transcriptionof the composer’s Concerto Grosso, Op. 3,No. 5. Although the original is scored fortwo oboes, strings and continuo, theoboes double the violins almost continu-ously while the viola plays in octaves withthe bass throughout. This leaves a three-part texture that suits the recorder triowell. Herrmann leaves open the possibili-ty of substituting tenor for soprano on thetop line and/or doubling the parts, thusencouraging experimentation with scor-ing possibilities inspired by the work’soriginal sonorities. Although one missesthe orchestral timbres, of course, the clar-ity of Handel’s counterpoint makes the
38 American Recorder
ARS PUBLICATIONSErich Katz Contemporary Music Series Members Non-Members
Suzanne M. Angevine, A Short Tale for two basses (Level II) (2 scores) $ 5 $ 8Peter Ballinger, Double Quartet for Recorders (Level II-III) (score & parts) $10 $18Anthony Burgess, Sonatina for Alto Recorder and Piano (Level II) (2 scores) $7 $12Cecil Effinger, Dialogue and Dance (SATB) (Level II-III) (score & parts) $10 $18Lee Gannon, Sonatine for three altos (Level III) (score & parts) $14 $26
(score, parts & demo cassette) $23 $43Erich Katz, Suite of Jewish Folk Tunes (S S/A8 A/T) (Level II) (three scores) $10 $18Vaclav Nelhybel, Six Short Pieces for Three Recorders, (AA/TT) (Level II)edited by Alan Drake (3 scores) $8 $14Stanley W. Osborn, Kyrie and Vocalise for soprano voice and recorders (SATB) (Level II) (2 scores & 4 recorder parts) $ 8 $14Frederic Palmer, Entrevista (SATB) (Level II) (2 scores & 4 recorder parts) $ 8 $14Sally Price, Dorian Mood (SATB) (Level II) (score & parts) $10 $18Jeffrey Quick, Picnic Music (SATB) (Level II) (score & parts) $ 5 $ 8
Musical Editions from the Members’ Library:ARS members: 1 copy, $3 2 copies, $4.50 3, $6 4, $7.50 5, $10 6, $11.50Non-members (editions over 2 years old): 1 copy, $5 2 copies, $8.50, 3,$12 4,$15 5, $19.50 6, $23The ARS is happy to provide photocopied enlargements of any Members’ Library edition at the same prices. Pleasespecify “Members’ Library Enlargement.” * = Editions not yet available to non-members.
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Adding Percussion to Medieval and Renaissance Music (Peggy Monroe)American Recorder Music (Constance Primus)The Burgundian Court and Its Music (Judith Whaley, coord.)Improve Your Consort Skills (Susan Carduelis)Music for Mixed Ensembles (Jennifer W. Lehmann)Playing Music for the Dance (Louise Austin)Recorder Care (Scott Paterson)
Education Publications The ARS Personal Study Program in Thirteen Stages to Help You Improve Your Playing (1996).First copy free to ARS Members (mailed to current members in 1996 & new members as they join);
replacement copies for members or non-members, $3. Guidebook to the ARS Personal Study Program (1996). Material formerly published in the Study Guide and Study Guide Handbook, plus additional resources. Members, $11; non-members, $20.
ARS Music Lists (2002 with 2003 Supplement). Graded list of solos, ensembles, and method books. Members $9; non-members, $15.Package deal available only to ARS members: Guidebook and Music Lists/Supplement ordered together, $16.
Junior Recorder Society Leader’s Resource Notebook. ARS members, $20; non-members, $40 (updates at reduced rates after initial purchase). Special rate for previous purchasers of JRS Class Program, $15. Dues for each JRS student member sponsored by an ARS member, $5 ($4 each forgroups of 10 of more). JRS student members receive activities plus “Merlin” badges and stickers.
Other Publications Chapter Handbook. A resource on chapter operations for current chapter leaders or those considering forming an ARS chapter. ARS members, $10; non-members, $20 (updates free after initial purchase).One free copy sent to each ARS chapter with 10 members or more.
Recorder Power, educational video from the ARS and recorder virtuoso John Tyson. An exciting resource about teaching recorder to young students. ARS members may borrow a copy for one month by sending a refundable $10 deposit to the ARS office along with the address to which the tape should be shipped.Discography of the Recorder, Vol. I (1989). Compiled by Scott Paterson and David Lasocki.Discography of the Recorder, Vol. II (1990-1994). Compiled by Scott Paterson.Either single volume: ARS members $23; non-members, $28. Both Discography volumes together: ARS members only, $40.
American Recorder: Cumulative Index for Vols. I-XXXX. ARS members, $20; non-members, $32.Index Supplement, Vol. XXXIV-XXXX. ARS members, $8; non-members, $14.
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Bruckner’s Ave Maria (arr. Jennifer W. Lehmann) Canon for Four Bass Recorders (David P. Ruhl)Dancers (Richard Eastman)Different Quips (Stephan Chandler)Elegy for Recorder Quartet (Carolyn Peskin)Elizabethan Delights*Gloria in Excelsis (Robert Cowper)Imitations (Laurie G. Alberts)*In Memory of Andrew (David Goldstein)*Jazzy Rondo (Carolyn Peskin)Los Pastores (arr. Virginia N. Ebinger)New Rounds on Old Rhymes (Erich Katz)Other Quips (Stephan Chandler)Poinciana Rag (Laurie G. Alberts)
Santa Barbara Suite (Erich Katz)Sentimental Songs (arr. David Goldstein)Serie for Two Alto Recorders (Frederic Palmer) Slow Dance with Doubles (Colin Sterne)Sonata da Chiesa (Ann McKinley)Three Bantam Ballads (Ann McKinley)Three Cleveland Scenes (Carolyn Peskin)Tracings in the Snowin Central Park (Robert W. Butts)Trios for Recorders (George T. Bachmann)Triptych (Peter A. Ramsey) Two Bach Trios (arr. William Long)Two Brahms Lieder (arr. Thomas E. Van Dahm)*Variations on “Drmeš” (Martha Bishop)Vintage Burgundy
January 2005 39
reworking a successful one, especially inthe fugal movements. Again, the piece iswell-suited to an intermediate ensemble.
Arranger Jean Cassignol has a more difficult task in arranging “Winter” fromVivaldi’s Four Seasons. The freedom of Vivaldi’s writing style and his idiomaticuse of string sonorities to paint quite specific tonal pictures would seem to poseinsurmountable difficulties in producing arecorder version, especially for only threeinstruments. As with the other three con-certos in the set (reviewed in the Novem-ber 2004 AR), Cassignol has drawn on hisintimate knowledge of the recorder’s capabilities—and, through careful instru-mentation, has produced a result that isfun to play and evocative of the original.
Because of its difficulty, the piece as awhole would only really succeed in thehands of expert players, though the lovelyslow movement could be managed quiteeffectively by an intermediate group.
All three editions are presented withgreat care for accuracy and for manageablepage turns.
Scott Paterson
SONATA IN G-MINOR FROM “IL PASTOR FIDO,” BY A. VIVALDI
(N. CHÉDEVILLE), ED. FRANZ MÜLLER-BUSCH. Girolamo G12.022, <www.girolamo.de>, <[email protected]>,2003. A bc. Sc 12 pp, pts pp. Abt. $13 + P&H.SLOW MOVEMENTS FROM THECHAMBER CONCERTOS, BY ANTONIO
VIVALDI, ARR. ANDREW ROBINSON. DolceDOL 270 (Magnamusic), 2002. A kbd. Sc 24 pp, pt 11 pp. $9.
This new edition of the popular G-Minor Sonata still lists its composer asVivaldi (as long thought)—but adds inparentheses the name of Chédeville, whohas now been proven to be the composeror arranger. In the epilogue of this edition,the editor explains this confusion and howPhilippe Lescat has recently shown thatNicolas Chédeville le cadet (1705-1782)
was the actual composer or compiler ofthe set of sonatas entitled Il Pastor Fido.
However, the question is: why anotheredition of this sonata—a standardrecorder repertoire piece that has beenpublished since the 1950s by Schott, Hor-tus Musicus, and others? A quick compar-ison with my old Hortus Musicus edition,for instance, shows that there is very littlechanged in the recorder part of this Girolamo edition, and the new harpsichord realization by Eckhart Kuperdoes not seem much improved.
One special feature in the recorderpart, though, is that, for the short “Adagio”at the end of the first movement, the bassline has been included—as well as a lot ofempty space above for the performer topencil in a cadenza.
This is a well-loved, fun-to-play sonata.If you don’t already own another edition,I’d recommend this new one.
Andrew Robinson has offered us hereanother collection of Baroque music forrecorder and keyboard arranged with in-termediate players in mind. In his inform-ative introduction Robinson says that allbut two of Vivaldi’s 22 surviving chamberconcertos call for recorder or transverseflute, usually with combinations of violins, oboe or bassoon with continuo. In this collection slow movements from13 of these are represented.
As in other arrangements by Robinson,the right hand of the keyboardist carriesthe part of one of the other instrumentsrather than a realization of the bass line.
These are nice study pieces in the Ital-ian Baroque style offering opportunitiesfor ornamentation. But one wonders: whyjust slow movements in this collection?And why just one movement from eachconcerto rather than complete works?
Constance M. Primus
MOTET “QUEM VIDISTIS PASTORES?” BY GIOVANNI BASSANO, ED. RICHARD CHARTERIS. PRB Produc-tions B031, <[email protected]>,<www.prbmusic.com>, 2003. SATB/SATB with basso seguente organ part. Sc 10 pp. $3.50; 8 pts 2 pp. each. $8.MOTET “CIBAVIT NOS,” BY GIOVANNI BASSANO, ED. RICHARD
CHARTERIS. PRB Productions B032,<[email protected]>, <www.prbmusic.com>, 2003. SATB/SATB with basso seguente organ part. Sc 7 pp. $3; 8 pts 2 pp each. $8.
The Kalamazoo Recorder Players(KRP) found playing Giovanni Bassano’sdouble choir motets Cibavit nos and Quem
vidistis pastores? to be very satisfying expe-riences, and the group thought that theeditor Richard Charteris showed goodtaste in choosing these particular piecesfor his arrangements.
The cornetto player Giovanni Bassano(c.1558-1617) was also the instrumentalensemble director at St. Mark’s Cathedralin Venice and is best known for his embel-lishment manuals. These motets showthat he was also adept at composing forthe services held at St. Mark’s.
Although both motets could be performed in various combinations—bytwo vocal choirs, by two choirs of voicesdoubled with instruments, by a choir ofvoices contrasting with a choir of instruments, or by other consorts of instruments in one or both choirs—theKRP played them with just recorders.
Both the score and the parts are veryclear and easy to read—something thatthe director particularly appreciated, sincemany scores are somewhat difficult to seefrom a distance. The text underlay was in-cluded in each of the individual parts, andthe score included the translation. Thismade musical decisions about phrasing,mood and tempo much easier and helpedthe individual players understand whythose decisions were made by the director.
The editor also provided a page ofnotes that gives more information aboutthe original copy of the motets and the editorial practices used.
The KRP found Quem vidistis pastores?to be the easier of the two, so less experi-enced groups probably would want tostart with that one. Even it has some trickyspots that would necessitate having strongleaders.
Only two small issues detract from theoverall excellence of these two editions.The tessitura of the Cibavit nos bass line israther high for bass recorders, so it wouldbe advisable to supplement thoserecorders with the basso seguente organpart, viols, or tenor recorders playing allbut low A. In addition, one wishes that thecue notes provided were from the top partof the other choir so that all the individual players would be able to hearthose notes.
On the back cover, PRB Productionslists other double choir pieces by Bassano, as well as double choir pieces byGabrieli and Hassler. If the other pieces areof equal quality, there is a wealth of newdouble choir publications for groups tosample.
Judy Whaley and the Kalamazoo Recorder Players
Cassignol has drawn onhis intimate knowledge of the recorder’scapabilities—and,through carefulinstrumentation, hasproduced a result that is fun to play....
40 American Recorder
SUITE FOR TREBLE RECORDER ORFLUTE AND PIANO OR STRINGS, BY
GORDON JACOB. Oxford University Press357354-71959, 1959. Re-issued by Peacock Press (Provincetown), 2002. A, pf. Sc 33 pp, pt 10 pp. $15.35. Stringparts may be rented from the publisher. . PASTORALE AND BOURÉE FOR DESCANT RECORDER AND PIANO,BY CHRISTOPHER EDMUNDS. Peacock PressPD 03 (Provincetown), 2002. Sc 8 pp, pt 3 pp. $12.25. TRIFLES FOR TREBLE RECORDER(FLUTE), VIOLIN, VIOLONCELLO &HARPSICHORD (PIANO), BY GORDON
JACOB. Emerson Edition 355 (Presser),2000. A, vn, vc, hc. Sc 15 pp, pts 7 ppeach. $37.95.
American Recorder has recently received review copies of these new edi-tions of “old” pieces for solo recorder andaccompaniment connected strongly to thepioneer recorder player and maker CarlDolmetsch. All are from the mid-20th century, and all reflect the style of recorderplaying of that time.
Gordon Jacob’s Suite was first performed by Dolmetsch at one of his famous Wigmore Hall (London) recitalson January 31, 1958. It was published by Oxford University Press in 1959. Oddly, Icannot find a review of the publication inany issues of the British Recorder News(although one was promised) of aroundthat time, and the review in AR (II: 2, 9) by LaNoue Davenport is brief and ratherperfunctory.
Jacob (1895-1984) was an importantEnglish composer, worthy of a full columnof biography in the New Grove Dictionaryof Music and Musicians, and the Suite is afine piece. Jacob was a composer of most-ly instrumental music, including two sym-phonies and a number of concertos andsuites. He was particularly interested inwind instruments, including the trombone, English horn and tuba as wellas the recorder. He also wrote textbooks:Orchestral Technique, How to Read a Score,and The Composer and his Art.
Jacob’s Suite is a “big” piece, a stand-out among the “little” original recorderpieces composed in the middle of the 20thcentury. Lacking an English review of thepublication, I have “M.B.”s enthusiasticreport in the British Recorder News (NewSeries No. 21, L 1958) on the Dolmetschconcert at Wigmore Hall: “As usual a newwork was given its first performance—thisyear a Suite for Treble Recorder and StringQuartet by Gordon Jacob. This consisted
of seven movements of old and new danceforms. As always, Gordon Jacob showedhimself master of his craft; the string writ-ing was vivid, varied in tone colour andexpression, tremendously rhythmic andvital in the quick movements, and lyricalin the more contemplative ones; therecorder part had great tonal and expres-sive range, and there was delightful witand humour....”
Davenport, in his review in AR, deplored the lack of “the very latest tech-niques of composition” in Jacob’s Suite. Itis true that the piece does not push the envelope in any way, nor is it highly demanding technically for either player. It is, however, a lovely piece of music,structurally sound, and a pleasure to hear.The harmonic idiom is lush, romantic,chromatic and expressive.
Upon its re-publication in 2002, theAmerican Recorder Society educationcommittee decided to add the Suite to itslist of 20th-century music for Level III ofthe ARS Personal Study Program.
The first movement, “Prelude” in D minor, is sweet, with many parallelthirds in both parts. The main theme ofgently falling notes (Adagio ma poco conmoto) is passed back and forth betweenrecorder and piano. I can easily hear Dolmetsch playing this with my mind’sear. His playing was marked by sweetness,along with a heavy vibrato—almost oblig-atory in this as in all the other movements.
The second movement, in F, is called“English Dance”—why, I don’t know exactly, as it seems neither particularlyEnglish nor is it a dance. It is, however,very lively, with 5/8 interpolations in themidst of the overall meter of 2/4 time.There is a very short quotation taken, withpermission, from Vaughan Williams’s Thisis thy Truth that is also an exact quote froman English folk song, Searching for Lambs.This is probably the “English” part.
This movement is technically morechallenging for the recorder than the firstmovement. There are some high Fs withfingering suggestions from Jacob—onegood and one not so good, in my opin-ion—and a trill fingering suggestion forhigh D to high E that works very well.
The third movement, in B with con-siderable chromaticism, is a very beautifullament. Again the theme is one of fallingnotes, and there is an atmosphere of bothlonging and calling. The accompanimentis pianistic, as indeed it is in all of themovements, in spite of some necessaryspreading of chords in the left hand.
In the fourth movement, a “Burlesca alla Rumba” again in C minor, and in theseventh, a “Tarantella in F,” the composerenjoys a fling with some of the exoticdances with which classical composerswere playing at the time. The word“burlesca” has come to mean humorousor playful when applied to an instrumen-tal piece.
The “rumba” is, of course, a dance ofAfro-Cuban origin that was extremelypopular in the U.S. in mid-century (it became a ballroom dance in the 1930s)and later in England. With its catchy one-two-three one-two-three one-tworhythm (called a tresillo rhythm, NewGrove tells me), it has an effective accom-paniment on the piano for an excitingrecorder part.
The fifth movement, in G minor, is a“Pavane.” A very clear reference to Dow-land’s Lachrimae Pavan, or Flow My Tears,in the piano introduction is immediatelymetamorphosed into a descending Locrian (!) scale in the recorder part. Thereare other scales, both rising and falling—even rather ordinary major and minorones that Jacob manages to make soundexotic with the accompanying harmonies.He finishes the movement in G major. Perhaps the tears have dried up, for thetime being at least.
The sixth movement, “Introductionand Cadenza,” begins with a short solo forthe piano (chords in the right hand, amelodious ’cello solo in the left); then therecorder takes off on a solo cadenza thattouches on the themes of all the othermovements. As the accompaniment reap-pears a tempo primo, the pavane themereappears as well, in Phrygian mode thistime.
A C major dominant minor ninthchord ends the movement, leading to theseventh, an Italian “tarantella.” Like itsprototype, the movement starts fast and
American Recorderhas recently receivedreview copies of these new editions of “old”pieces for solo recorderand accompanimentconnected stronglyto...Carl Dolmetsch.
January 2005 41
ends faster, and those recorder players andpianists seeking virtuosic writing will findit here. The composer suggests playingthis movement on the sopranino recorder;Dolmetsch did indeed perform it thus inhis 1958 concert in Wigmore Hall. Again,it is very easy to imagine him playing it inone’s mind’s ear. He loved the littlerecorders, and he loved playing fast! I canalso picture Michala Petri playing it flaw-lessly.
A word about the marks of articulationand dynamics in this and the other piecesunder review: all must be taken with agrain of salt. In general, longer slurs ap-pear to be phrase-marks; shorter ones, onfast notes especially, can be taken literally.The player must make many of his own de-cisions. Dynamics must often be simulat-ed rather than attempted. (What, for in-stance, is the difference between ff and mfon a sopranino recorder?)
All in all, the Gordon Jacob Suite is afine piece for recorder that has stood thetest of time, and we welcome its return.
The Edmunds Pastorale and Bourée, onthe other hand, is not nearly so deservingof its new life. It was composed in 1968and presented as a New Year’s gift for CarlDolmetsch. It has remained in manuscriptall these years until released for publica-tion by Jeanne Dolmetsch.
The composer was a teacher of harmo-ny and composition at the BirminghamSchool of Music. The music is beautifullyprinted using Sibelius 7 on a heavy paleyellow stock, and I wish I liked it more.
Both movements have a certain lilt andcharm, but they seem to this listener tohave “wrong notes” interpolated in orderto make the piece sound “modern.” How-ever, if Dolmetsch was fond of the pieceand performed it often—as seems evidentfrom markings that he added to the scorefor articulation and phrasing, as well as acadenza he added between the two move-ments—it must have some merit.
The third piece under review, Trifles,composed in 1971 for Dolmetsch and firstperformed by him at his Wigmore Hallrecital in March 24, 1983, is again by Jacob. It is, in actual fact, a group of piecesthat could be considered a suite, exceptthat they are all in different keys. In a letterto Dolmetsch enclosed with the manu-script, the composer states that the reasonfor the title is that all the pieces are “shortand unpretentious.” He further adds thatthe French titles to the pieces are a pun onthe word “trifles,” but that they need notbe used in performance.
The first movement, “Le Buffet” (Ah!
we begin to get the joke), gives therecorder a very beautiful theme with achordal accompaniment in the strings—the harpsichord is tacet. The second, “LaTrifle au vin de Jerez,” has polyphonic playamong the parts, delightful cross-rhythmsand plenty of hemiolas. The third, “La Trifle à l’ananas–très douce” (pineappletrifle!) is tasty. It’s marked Adagio molto( =40) with rather heavy writing in all theparts. Lots of whipped cream, perhaps?This movement has a fair amount of chro-maticism, but not enough to make it loseits tonal center.
The fourth movement is marked “LaTrifle à l’anglais” (well, if you didn’t before,now you have to get the pun: an Englishtrifle is a rich dessert consisting of spongecake, sherry, fruit, zest, nuts, macaroons,custard, almonds and whipped cream). Ithas as its main theme a direct quote fromthe lively English folk song, The Keys toCanterbury. Thus it is an English trifle.
As in the other movements, there ismuch bandying about of the main themeand counter-themes in all four parts.There is a meno mosso section in which thethree obbligato parts get the main themein block chords; then the harpsichordmakes a playful entrance with an excerptplayed up to speed; following that, it takes over the block chords. In a last Prestosection, all four instruments combine in a furious 9/8 gallop.
Throughout the four movements thewriting for each instrument is idiomatic,except that the harpsichord part couldeasily be played on a piano. The music itself, while unpretentious perhaps, is ofsuch good quality that it is worth therather high price. If you have a “triosonata” group, consisting of recorder, violin, ’cello, and keyboard, this piece isfor you!
Martha Bixler
EGO SUM PANIS VIVUS, BY JUAN
ESQUIVEL, ED. GREG LEWIN. Hawthorns Music RS 107 (Magnamusic), 2002.SATB. Sc 4 pp., pts 1 pp ea. $8.IO PUR RESPIRO, BY CARLO GESUALDO,ED. GREG LEWIN. Hawthorns Music RS 106 (Magnamusic), 2002. SAATB. Sc 4 pp., pts 1 pp ea. $8.
Greg Lewin and Hawthorns Musiccontinue their RS (Recorder Shorts) serieswith these latest releases. Both pieces areshort, less than 70 measures, and are suit-able for warm-up pieces.
Juan de Esquivel Barahona was bornc.1563 in Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain, anddied sometime after 1612. His entire
printed output consists of sacred music.Esquivel was very prolific for his era; hepublished two large volumes in 1608—one of masses, the other of motets. Hismusic stands with the works of Victoria,Guerrero and Lobo, but has not receivedthe modern attention afforded those com-posers. His reputation and the quality ofhis music kept his works in use during the17th century in Spain and Mexico.
Ego sum panis vivus is presumably fromone of his two motet publications. There isno indication of the source of this edition.
Ego sum panis vivus requires a consortof intermediate ability or greater. Two chal-lenges become apparent when playing thismusic. First, great attention needs to bepaid to the phrasing. Luckily this publica-tion, unlike many other Hawthorns editions, includes a text underlay in eachpart, making accurate phrasing possible.
Second, the key signature of two flatscan present problems in intonation. Thiskey signature would have been unlikely atthe time of composition, so it is clear thatthe music has been transposed, probablyup a fifth. The prevalent Es, as well as theoccasional A, can cause tuning problemsin some ensembles. Fortunately, however,this edition avoids low Es in the sopranoand low As in the alto. The parts havelarge, easy-to-read notes and all the musicfits comfortably on a single page.
Carlo Gesualdo (c.1561-1613), Princeof Venosa and Count of Conza, is knowntoday for two things: for the individualityof his music; and for murdering his wife,Maria d’Avalos, and her lover of two years,Fabrizio Carafa, the Duke of Andria, afterhe surprised the two of them “in flagrantedelicto di fragrante peccato” on October16, 1590. The notoriety of this event hassometimes obscured the idiosyncratic genius of his music, particularly his madri-gals.
Gesualdo’s obsession with melancho-lia is comparable with Dowland’s, butGesualdo’s musical language far outreach-es his contemporaries in stretching the
Carlo Gesualdo (c.1561-1613), Prince of Venosa andCount of Conza, is knowntoday for two things: for the individuality of his music; and formurdering his wife....
42 American Recorder
harmonic boundaries to adequately express the affect of his text.
Io pur respiro in cosí gran dolore is a five-voice madrigal from Gesualdo’s Madrigalilibro sesto, published in 1611. Lewin’s edition, both score and parts, is clear andlegible. There is no indication of any transposition. There is text underlay and a translation on the back cover.
This music requires advanced recorderplayers. The tuning on Gesualdo’s numer-ous accidentals is crucial. There is also apassage, beginning at measure 41, where the four upper parts break into16th-note runs. Here it is essential to haveplayers with a good command of doubletonguing.
As has been the case in otherHawthorns editions, Lewin’s editorialpractices in these two editions are incon-sistent. Io pur respiro has measure num-bers at the beginning of every system,while Ego sum panis vivus has measurenumbers every five measures. Also, theclefs in Io pur respiro indicate a recordertransposition (soprano and bass sound anoctave higher than written), whereas Egosum panis vivus has clefs that would beconsistent with vocal notation: alto andtenor both sound an octave lower thanwritten. In short, both editions have theirquirks and flaws, but these short piecesare first-rate.
Frank Cone
MÄRCHEN-SUITE FÜR DREI BLOCK-FLÖTEN, BY GISBERT NÄTHER. FriedrichHofmeister Musikverlag FH 2818, <[email protected]>,2002. SAT. Sc 15 pp, pts 6-8 pp each. Price unknown.
A listing of compositions by GisbertNäther, which can be seen at <www.gisbertnaether.de/kakonzert.htm>,reveals compositions for a variety of in-struments—but, interestingly, no othercompositions for recorder. This same sitereveals that Näther has a very extensivebackground as a performer and as a composer for a variety of instruments.
Märchen-Suite für drei Blockflöten (FairyTale Suite for Three Alto Recorders) is a suiteof seven short pieces, each bearing the title of a well-known fairy tale. Thesepieces are contemporary, and only a tinybit of avant-garde technique is necessary.None of these pieces has a key signature,indicating that they are basically atonal.
The first piece, “Es war einmal” (OnceUpon a Time), opens up on something asblasé as a C major chord—but you knowby the second measure when you hear
unprepared/unresolved dissonances, thatyou are hearing contemporary composi-tional techniques.
Whenever I hear the phrase “Once up-on a time,” my childhood sense of wonderand anticipation of the story emerges. Thiswonder is reflected in this music in its frequently-used and often unresolvedpresentation of the augmented fourth.The note C reaches up to F and strains toreach G, much as we yearn to hear moreof the story, and thus the atmosphere isprimed for the rest of the fairy tales.
The second piece, “Schneewittchentanzt mit den Zwergen,” (Snow WhiteDances with the Seven Dwarfs), is ascherzando in 3/8 time. You will need totake some of the indicated slurs with agrain of salt—some of them occur between very complex fingerings.
In spite of the contemporary composi-tional techniques, we hear such tradition-al passages as parallel thirds and sixths. At one point, we hear the very sharp dissonance of the simultaneous notes B, C and D, a tone cluster that propels themusic forward.
While listening to this movement, I geta sense of the graceful Snow White danc-ing with the clumsier dwarfs, who seem tobe represented by the repeated and ac-cented notes in the tenor part.
Next is an ethereal and impressionisticpiece called “Im Märchenwald” (In theFairy Tale Forest.) Both the alto and tenorparts have long sustained notes with theperformance instruction, Luftgeräusche.This means to color the tone with a noisier breath, or perhaps just pure breathnoise. Since there are no other specific instructions, my ensemble decided just tohold the recorder about a quarter inchaway from the lips, and blow, while finger-ing the indicated notes. This gives a veryesoteric background to the three-measuresoprano solo, which is best played with afree improvisatory-like rhythm.
After the soprano solo comes a gripping, intense section with eachrecorder part landing on the same note onsuccessive beats, followed by imitative
triplets that again conclude with all threerecorders layering themselves on the samenote on successive beats. As this sectionends, all three instruments arrive on a Don three successive beats—the tenor playshigh D, forcing the player to cover hole 8(if no alternative fingerings will work).
The rest of the piece is infused withtriplets until all three parts hit the same tone, once again played Luftgeräusche on a C. After more triplets,the piece ends on a Luftgeräusche D.
Suffice it to say, with all of the unisonsthat come about in layers with successiveentrances, this piece is quite a challengefor intonation. But, this is my favoritepiece in the suite, so I definitely think it isworth the trouble!
The next piece is “Rapunzel, laß deinHaar herunter” (Rapunzel, let down yourhair). There is no doubt as to exactly whenRapunzel does just this, as suddenly allparts play a descending chromatic scale;the soprano and tenor recorders are in parallel sevenths while the alto and tenorare in parallel thirds. A bit of what I wouldcall a musical struggle follows, and thepiece ends peacefully on a D major chord.
“Rotkäppchen und der Wold” (Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf) is afun-to-play piece with lots of interestingrhythmic passages alternating with calmerones. Once again, the tenor recorder mustplay the high D; but this time it is just a16th note within a tone cluster containingthree notes, all a half step apart.
Next comes “Rumpelstilzchen,” whichinvolves almost constant staccato 16thnotes with lots of interesting rhythmic in-teraction between the parts. There is notempo indication, but the faster we playedit, the more we liked it.
The suite ends with an exact repetitionof the first piece. I do think that GisbertNäther is a first-class composer, and Ihighly recommend this suite to those whowant to think of their fairy tales in a morecontemporary atmosphere. With practice,advanced intermediate players could master this work.
Susan Groskreutz
THE CONSORT COLLECTION, VOL. I, ED. LARRY BERNSTEIN. Dolce DOL 101 (Magnamusic), 1987. SATB, etc. Sc 46 pp. $13.75.
Intermediate consorts and their lead-ers should be delighted to learn that thiscollection of quartets is back in print. The39 short pieces in this book are “all gems,”as described by the previous reviewer, Peter Hedrick, in the May 1989 AR.
Whenever I hearthe phrase“Once upon a time,”my childhood sense of wonder and anticipationof the story emerges.
January 2005 43
All are from the 15th to the 17th centuries, except the last piece. It wascomposed by the editor, based on the16th-century tune “Bergamasca,” todemonstrate late Renaissance and earlyBaroque techniques of variation. Thelongest piece, it is also one of the volume’smore difficult.
Many of the others look easy on thepage, but offer experiences in hemiolasand tempo changes, and invite experi-ments with articulation and ornamenta-tion.
Obviously intended for amateur en-sembles, this is not a scholarly edition—although the editor includes sources andnotes about each piece. He also gives sug-gested tempos and indicates moods withwords such as “lively” or “gentle and sustained.” He also indicates the metricalrelationships between duple and triplesections. There are no articulation marksexcept for breath marks, and most of thevocal pieces have text underlays for at leastone part.
I have used this edition often for teach-ing and chapter meetings and recommendit highly.
Constance M. Primus
SONATA IN C (BWV 1028), BY J. S.BACH, ARR. ANDREW ROBINSON. Dolce 271(Magnamusic), 2002. S (T) & kbd. Sc 18 pp, pt 7 pp. $9.
BWV 1028 comes down to us as one ofBach’s three sonatas for viola da gambaand obbligato keyboard. As with the othergamba sonatas, though, this was notBach’s original instrumentation for themusic. An earlier version of the first gam-ba sonata (BWV 1027) exists scored as atrio sonata for transverse flutes and bassocontinuo (BWV 1039). This second gam-ba sonata is thought to have had a similarpredecessor, now lost—perhaps for trans-verse flute, violin and continuo.
During the Baroque era, composers often arranged trio sonatas for one melodyinstrument and keyboard when the needarose. The melody instrument would beassigned one of the upper lines while thekeyboard took the other upper line as wellas the bass line. When Bach arranged thistrio sonata for gamba, he assigned the low-er melody line to the gamba—leaving theupper voice and bass for the keyboard. Hemade several small changes to the musicto suit the instruments at hand and insert-ed a long, complex cadenza for the keyboard into the last “Allegro.”
In this arrangement, Robinson has fol-lowed the same process Bach would have,
but taking out some of the embellish-ments Bach added to the gamba version.Robinson assigns the upper melody line tothe higher pitched recorder, while the key-board takes the lower two lines. The wholeis transposed down a tone from D major tofit the recorder’s range. Robinson has alsoremoved the massive cadenza, making thepiece more accessible to average players.
The arrangement works well and cre-ates a very satisfying piece of music. Theslow movements are beautifully melodic,while the allegros have strong, drivingrhythms that pull the players along. Bachfans will have a great deal of fun playingthis arrangement. I highly recommend it(especially played on tenor) for intermedi-ate to advanced players.
Geoffrey Allen
THREE SONATAS (1625), BY GIOVANNI
PICCHI, ED. BERNARD THOMAS. London ProMusica LPM CS22 (Magnamusic), 2000.SS bc. Sc 16 pp, pts 4 pp each. $13.75.
Giovanni Picchi (1572-1643) was aVenetian who worked in the San Paolo dis-trict as organist in the church of SantaMaria de’ Frari from 1606 until his death.In 1623 he won the post of organist at theconfraternity of Scuola Grande di San Roc-co, a position previously held by GiovanniGabrieli. His keyboard skills were well rec-ognized in his time; he was invited to au-dition for the prestigious post of secondorganist at San Marco in 1624, althoughhe eventually lost to Giovanni Pietro Berti.
Picchi was famous in his day as an ex-pert in dance music. Caroso refers to himas one of Venice’s “professori di ballare.” Acollection of Picchi’s dance music intend-ed for the keyboard was published in thelate 1610s and was reprinted in 1621.
In 1625 Picchi turned his attention tothe relatively new sonata form, followingthe example of his contemporary, DarioCastello. Picchi freely interchanges theterms “canzona” and “sonata” in his pub-lication. Thomas continues this practicewithout comment, according to the origi-nal print in this new and welcome edition.
These two sonatas, marked “CanzonaPrima” and “Canzona Quarta,” are for twoviolins or cornetti with basso continuo.However, recorder players should not beput off by this. Giovanni Battista Riccio,
another Venetian contemporary of Pic-chi’s, published a collection in 1621,which contained canzonas marked specif-ically for recorders that were not stylisti-cally different from the present ones.Bernard Thomas has already publishedRiccio’s pieces earlier in this series (Cham-ber Music of the Seventeenth Century).The interested player is encouraged toseek them out.
Presenting only a few technical chal-lenges, these pieces are well within thegrasp of the intermediate player, A charac-teristic feature of this genre is the echo effect. Picchi mixes these echo passageswith parallel motion in thirds, which is avery attractive feature of this music. For aneffective performance, the players reallyneed to listen to each other carefully.
These pieces also lend themselves todiscreet ornamentation. We tried thesesonatas in a variety of configurations. Themost effective seemed to be with contrast-ing instruments. Although they can beplayed with matching instruments (two vi-olins, two recorders, etc.), contrasting in-struments reveal the interplay of the parts.
With recorder performances, it is mosteffective to combine a soprano with a vio-lin or a cornetto, provided the recordertakes the canto primo line. Combining analto or tenor recorder with a violin or cor-netto is more problematic.
There are dynamic markings in some ofthe echo passages of both pieces, but againthis should not deter the recorder player.The Riccio canzonas mentioned above aresimilarly marked. In both Picchi’s sonatasand Riccio’s canzonas, the first dynamicmarking is pian, indicating that the normal playing dynamic is considered tobe forte, at least at this time in Venice.
The basso continuo has been realized,presumably by the editor, and is intendedfor organ. A lute part would have been awelcome addition, as in the earlier Ricciopieces.
In recent years Picchi’s sonatas havesuffered in comparison to Castello’s, inthat they are less virtuosic, but they arecertainly attractive and fun pieces to play.I highly recommend them.
London Pro Musica has done its usualexemplary job in presenting this music inan accurate and easy-to-read edition. Ifthere is any complaint or criticism, it is thelack of background information, incipits,and indication of editorial practice. This isindeed unusual for LPM, but was mostprobably due to a lack of space rather thanany editorial oversight.
Frank Cone
For an effectiveperformance, the playersreally need to listen toeach other carefully.
44 American Recorder
In an October workshop for the Mid-Peninsula (CA) Recorder Orches-tra, Tom Bickley had participants “Read-ing Between the Notes”—finding a musi-cal theme’s “home pitch,” identifying mu-sical phrases, and thus emphasizing moreimportant notes during performance. Aparticipant called it “feeding both sides ofthe brain” and said that he felt that thistype of analysis “resulted in large groupplaying at a much higher level than before.I have listened with attention ever since.”
MPRO members Laura Gonsalves,Anne Ng, Jean Ridley, Stevie White andSonja Wilcomer, performing as theCrones, donned witch hats in October toplay for the 80th birthday party of formerMPRO member Lee Hukill. (Guests alsoreceived hats as they arrived.)
Later in the month, the Crones playedfor fifth and sixth graders at the Los Altos
(CA) Waldorf School. The lively questionand answer period after their performanceincluded great interest in the various bass-es used and Ridley’s sopranino. The pro-gram ended with the sixth-graders playinga piece accompanied by the Crones. Ateacher remarked, “I’ve never seen thesestudents so quiet and attentive!”
In September, the Wembleys (SouthBay members Joanna Woodrow, DonWatson, Jean Ridley and Laura Gon-salves plus friends Susan Denison andLinda Hagelin) played an eclectic mix ofbackground music for the garden party ofthe Saratoga Historical Society.
Over in the next time zone, performingas Artifax, Greater Denver Chaptermembers played in November at the En-glewood (CO) Library for a group of firstthrough third graders celebrating St. Mar-tin’s Day. The music ranged from Richard
the Lionheart’s Ballad (with its Robin Hoodconnection) to The Teddy Bear’s Picnic.
Have you ever thought of how manyholidays there are in November? ConniePrimus did, as she chose music for theDenver chapter meeting that month. Herprogram held pieces (too numerous tolist) for All Saint’s Day, All Soul’s Day, Veterans’ Day, St. Cecilia’s Day andThanksgiving. The last segment includedarrangements by the late David Goldsteinof Seventeen Old Favorite Hymns(published by Sweet Pipes).
Also in November, Eileen Hadidianled the South Bay (CA) Recorder Soci-ety, through “Jewels of the Early 15thCentury.” Noted music theorist and com-poser Johannes Tinctoris acknowledgedthe start of the Renaissance in his treatiseof 1477: “Although it seems beyond belief,there does not exist a single piece of
CHAPTERS & CONSORTS___________________________________
Reading between the notes and through the ages;chapter members out and about, and in concert
January 2005 45
SCHOLARSHIPSfor recorder players to attend
recorder/early music
SUMMERWORKSHOPS
applications must be postmarked by April 15;
for recorder players to attend recorder/early music
WEEKEND WORKSHOPS
throughout the year,apply two months
before funding is needed.
Workshop scholarships are madepossible by memorial funds
established to honor Andrew Acs,Jennifer Wedgwood Lehmann
and Margaret DeMarsh.
AMERICAN RECORDER SOCIETY1129 Ruth Dr. St. Louis, MO 63122 U.S.A.
800-491-9588 • 314-966-4649 (fax)[email protected]
music, not composed within the last 40years, that is regarded by the learned asworth hearing.” He identified the Burgun-dian Guillaume Dufay and EnglishmanJohn Dunstable as founders of the newstyle, with the sweet sound found in Eng-lish music of the 14th and 15th centuriesgradually being incorporated into Frenchmusic. Hadidian also chose works bythose composers that demonstrate thetransition from three-part to four-part music.
P. I. Tchaikovsky’s “Mazurka” fromSwan Lake and Gershwin’s Someone toWatch Over Me were two selections chosen by Phil Hollar for the November Atlanta (GA) Recorder Society meeting.Two hours of music started with Dufayand led into an tour of different musicalstyles.
A high school recorder group nurturedby Judy Stephens is bearing fruit: newmembers for the West Suburban (IL)Early Music Society. The Boveris—twoof her students, along with their brother—now attend WSEMS meetings. Dave playsalto recorder and Alex the mandolin,while Brian drums along on boudhran.
The fall meetings of the Twin Cities(MN) Recorder Guild followed thetheme of English fantasias of the 16th and17th centuries. Music director MaryHalverson Waldo wrapped up the focusin November with “some of the very bestpieces of the genre”—works by Simpsonand, of course, William Byrd.
At the previous month’s meeting,TCRG members shelled out a total of $78to benefit the chapter in a silent auction ofexcess music from the chapter library.North Winds Trio provided backgroundmusic during the auction.
The Sound of Music was heard, literally,during the October Chicago (IL) Chap-ter meeting. Patrick O’Malley conduct-ed 13 or so members in an exploration ofvarious recorder arrangements, touchingon how an arranger might handle a piececomposed by someone else. Includedwere some of his own arrangements, including those Sound of Music selections.
Sometimes winter weather or conflictscan decrease chapter attendance—what’sa meeting leader to do? With nine players(and then seven, when two had to leaveearly), Carolyn Peskin led the Octobermeeting of the Greater Cleveland (OH)Chapter, using the time to make simpledance pieces sound more interesting. Shehad the group drop and add parts to varythe texture, ornament the top line on re-peats of sections, and add percussion.
Several members of the San Francisco(CA) Chapter performed on the autumnconcert of the San Francisco RecorderGroup, an informal group of recorder-lovers who have been meeting weekly inthe home of Florence Kress for years. Thefree concert featured music from the Me-dieval period to modern blues by Jelly RollMorton. Pieces were played by the entiregroup as well as by small ensembles withthe large group. The SFRG also had sever-al holiday performances planned—Christmas music at Filoli Mansion and atThe Heritage retirement home, plus a January concert at St. Mary’s Cathedral.
Baroque Etc. (above) proclaimed theirGerman idol to be J.S. Bach, playing twoNovember all-Bach performances in Oak-land and Berkeley, CA. The group includesstring players, vocalists and continuo mu-sicians with recorderists Kathy Cochran,Carl Lyngholm, Alan Paul and GlenShannon, members of various Bay Areachapters. Who wouldn’t want to play (orhear) the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, plusseveral delicious Bach cantatas?
Seattle (WA) recorderists CharlesColdwell and David Ohanessian weresoloists in Bach’s Cantata No. 106,“Gottes Zeit,” on another all-Bach pro-gram including orchestra in November.Mounted by the Kirkland Choral Societyas part of its series, the concert matchedthe soaring architecture and acoustics ofKenmore’s Bastyr University Chapel.
The Seattle (WA) Recorder Societystarts each meeting with a short perform-ance—offered in November by Canzona,an ensemble that hasn’t appeared in twodecades. Its present configuration isfounding members Peter Seibert, playingrecorder, and Ellen Seibert, playing mostly viol, along with a member they “grew” themselves—soprano singerMolly Seibert—plus AugustDenhard, lute. The central pieceof their November program wasG. F. Handel’s Italian cantata, Nel dolce dell’oblio (love’s sweetoblivion).
After the concert to open eachmeeting, Seattle members breakinto several groups—one being abeginner, or “out of practice,”group.
CHAPTER NEWSChapter newsletter editors and publicity officers shouldsend materials for publication in American Recorder to :
AR, 7770 South High St., Centennial, CO 80122-3122, by e-mail <[email protected]>.
Electronic photos for publication should be 3”x4”x300dpi or greater.
Please send chapter newsletters to the AR address above,and to the following addresses:
ARS Office, 1129 Ruth Drive, St. Louis, MO 63122-1019, by e-mail <[email protected]>;
Richard Carbone, Chair, Chapters & Consorts Committee,
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46 American Recorder
During this cold, dark time of year, it isimportant to keep making music—
important for yourself, and for all thosewho hear you play. We must each bring asmuch music as we can into the world.
But to make music well and happily wemust have warm hands—or, at least, nothorrid blocks of ice that actually cooldown the air around them! I once lived ina rented room in a house whose owner didnot want me to turn on the heat (it cost toomuch), so I learned how to keep my handswarm enough to play my recorders. Hereis what I learned.
When it is cold, it is very important forus to find ways to keep our fingers suppleso that they can move freely, and so thatwe will not injure ourselves. I am not aphysician or physical therapist, but I canjust feel that forcing cold hands into actionis not good for them.
Good circulation is the first step towarm fingers. Begin with movement ofyour whole body: do whatever type of mo-tion you favor, be it yoga, running, chop-ping wood, shoveling snow (or, here inCalifornia, sweeping my front walk),swimming, cleaning house—whatevergets you to move all of your limbs, and getsyour heart pumping and your breath flow-ing. You don’t need to exhaust yourself;moderate movement is sufficient, but the
more vigorous your exercise, the warmeryou will become.
Next, make sure your blood can con-tinue to circulate well by freeing up yourshoulder and neck muscles. Blood flowbrings warmth to your outer extremities(those marvelous fingers). The followingexercises, done gently and mindfully, willpromote free movement and good circula-tion.
By the way, if your hands cool downand grow cold during your playing ses-sion, you can get up and do a couple ofthese stretches (or run downstairs tochange the laundry, etc.) before resumingyour music.
NOTE: you know your body better thananyone.· Do not do any stretch or exercise you
know is wrong for you.· Do stretches carefully, making sure not
to go further than a mild sustainedstretch.
· Do these exercises slowly without jerking.
Doorway (or corner - thanks, S.W.)Stand in a doorway, one foot ahead of theother (to keep from falling forward) withone hand on each side of the door frame.Lean gently forward to stretch the musclesaround your collar bone (the front of yourshoulders). Hold for several seconds.
You can keep your hands low, down byyour sides, or you can put your hands atshoulder height, or above your head. In allcases, be sure to stretch slowly withoutoverstretching, and to keep your balance.
You can also do this standing in a cor-ner, upper arms horizontal at shoulderheight, elbows bent 90 degrees and fore-arms each against one wall. With one footforward, lean into the corner.
Arm AcrossBend one elbow so that your hand can rest
at your collarbone (right arm, left collar-bone). With the other hand, take hold ofyour bent elbow and pull it forward andup across your body (a stretch for theshoulder blade area). Hold for several seconds, then try the other side.
Hands BehindWith arms loose at your sides, put yourhands behind you, clasping them lightly.Straighten your joined arms behind you. Ifthis is too slight a stretch, you can pullyour linked hands upward, keeping yourelbows straight. When you find a gentlestretching point, hold it for several sec-onds, then slowly relax and release yourhands.
Hands Above HeadWith arms loose at your sides, bring yourhands in front of you, clasping them lightly. With elbows straight, raise yourjoined hands above your head. For agreater stretch, you can turn your palmsout to face the ceiling. Hold for a few seconds, then slowly lower your arms.
Crossed Elbows (for the more flexibleamong you)Here’s a great stretch for the shoulderblade area, but it is very difficult to explain. Let’s see how well I do.
Raise both arms in front of you with el-bows bent at right angles. Put one elbowover the other inside the bend of the arm,then twine your forearms around so thatyour palms can meet (one will be at a high-er level than the other). Hold this positionfor some seconds, keeping your upperarms more or less horizontal.
Slowly release your arms, wait a fewseconds, then repeat, putting the otherarm over the previously upper arm. (Thatwas tough to describe. I sure hope you gotit! If not, come to me at a workshop and Iwill demonstrate for you.)
You do not need to do all of thesestretches—just a few of them will get yourblood flowing and prepare you for playingrecorder. To warm your hands further, youshould do a few technique exercises thatalways get my fingers supple and movingfreely.
OPENING MEASURES___________________________________ Warm hands in winter
Good circulation is the first step to warm fingers.
January 2005 47
Trill Movements (from my book, The Recorder Player’s Companion)Stand freely, balanced on both feet. Takeup your recorder and cover all the holes.Begin trilling with finger 7 (right hand little finger)—slowly, then gradually increasing speed and then slowing downgradually.
Release finger 7 and do the same trillwith finger 6. Keep all six fingers on therecorder and trill with finger 5 (which willresult in an incorrect fingering—it’s OK).Now keep all six fingers on the recorderand trill with finger 4.
Release fingers 4, 5, and 6, and trillwith finger 3. Keep fingers 1, 2, and 3 onthe recorder, trilling with finger 2—andthen trilling with finger 1 and, finally, withfinger 0.
Remember always to play slow—to fast—to slow. I do this series twice.
Slurred ScalePick a scale you know well, and can playover 1½ to 2 octaves. Play slowly, slurringeverything.
Play the scale again, a little faster. Repeat, slightly faster each time, keepingyour hands relaxed.
When you reach a speed at which youare no longer able to play smoothly, do onelast scale—beginning slowly, acceleratingall the way to the top of the scale, thengradually slowing on the way down.
Two other helpful ideas for keeping hands warm
Get yourself some wrist warmers: knit-ted tubes that cover your forearms downto the place where your fingers sproutfrom your hands. Some people like finger-less gloves or at least a thumbhole, but I don’t like to feel anything between myfingers, so I just use a knitted tube.
If you knit or crochet, or know some-one who does you can have handmadewrist warmers. Otherwise you can just cutthe feet out of a couple of socks.
Either way, choose warm, non-scratchyyarn. (Here is a potential industry forsomeone: make wrist warmers and sellthem to musicians who don’t knit!)
When my hands are just too cold (envision icicles from every finger), I willsoak my hands in warm water before playing or during a break. This reallyhelps, and is particularly nice for thosewith arthritis.
OK, off you go. Play music and staywarm!
Frances Blaker
Robert AmchinAlto Antics ensembles for beginning alto recorder with percussion accompanimentRecorder Frolics for beginning C-pipes (Play-along CD available)Moods and Modes for intermediate classroom ensembles: includes play-along CD Brent M. Holl and Michael R. NicholsThe Beatin' Path Consort Collection for beginning and intermediate ensemble Michael R. NicholsChristian Harmony Sacred Harp (Shaped Note) music arranged for SATB consort
302 East College StreetBridgewater VA 22812
540-478-4833
See our online catalogue of Church,choir, Orff and recorder music at:www.beatinpathpublications.comor visit your favorite music dealer
Beatin’ Path PublicationsMusic That Works!
JUST OFF THE PRESS!
Andrew Charlton: Suite Moderne, for 3 Recorders (ATB)A neo-Hindemithian Feast. (3 Playing Scores, PBE-44) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$9.95
Michael East: “Desperavi”, Fantasia for 5 Viols or Recorders,transcribed by David Goldstein. (Score & Parts, PBE-46) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7.95
Bernard Krainis: “Elijahu ha-Navi” (Elijah the Prophet)Divisions & Tango on a Hebrew Tune, for Alto Recorder alone (PBE-45) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$8.95
Provincetown Bookshop Editions
The Provincetown Bookshop, Inc.246 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657 Tel. (508)487-0964
A good source for Recorder & Viol Music of all publishers.
recorderman.comRecorder music and more! Learn toimprovise. Energize your music program.Hear soundclips on the website.
Email: [email protected]: 1-800-230-3577
recorderman.comRecorder music and more! Learn toimprovise. Energize your music program.Hear soundclips on the website.
Email: [email protected]: 1-800-230-3577
fine editions of early & contemporary music
PRB PRODUCTIONS Peralta Avenue, Albany, CA
Phone: -- Fax: --E-mail: [email protected]: www.prbmusic.com
CLASSIFIED___________________________________
A CHEERFULL NOYSE. Selling recorders, other instruments, sheet music and accessories for early music. Be sure to read “Playing The Recorder OnlySeems Easy” online, each month. Customer service isour middle name. www.acheerfullnoyse.com,[email protected].
FOR SALE: Rottenburgh Moeck alto, early model,rosewood, $200; Rottenburgh Moeck alto, ceramicblock, blackwood, $200; Moeck maple renaissance alto, $200; Moeck maple renaissance tenor, $250;Rottenburgh Moeck soprano, plumwood, defect onbell, $50; Kung bass, with bocal, rosewood, $300;Kung soprano, rosewood, $75; plastic sopranino, $10;plastic sopranos, $5; plastic tenor, $25. (860) 674-9659.
FOR SALE: Koblicek Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass Renaissance Consort. $3,150.00. Call 309/827-4534or [email protected].
FOR SALE: Alto Dolmetsch #9914, pearwood $175;Descant Dolmetsch #6919, rosewood $190. Both ingood, used, playable condition, From estate of profes-sional. All proceeds from sales go to charity. Florindo J.Troncelliti, 255 W 108th St #7B1, New York NY10025, 646-932-1895, [email protected].
AMERICAN RECORDER seeks articles on recorder:history, performance practice, artists and repertoire,education, instrument building, etc. Also, photographsand reports of news events. Will consider artwork,poetry, riddles, puzzles. Modest honoraria by specialarrangement. Send inquiries to: American RecorderEditor, 7770 South High St., Centennial, CO 80122U.S.; <[email protected]>.
SEND IDEAS for articles on education topics to education department editor Jody Miller at<[email protected]>.
MUSIC REVIEWERS for AR needed. Reviews mustbe submitted by e-mail or on disk. Please send abrief bio with a list of the types of music you are interested in reviewing to Connie Primus, PO Box 608, 1097 Main Street, Georgetown, CO 80444,or <[email protected]>.
COMPACT DISC REVIEWERS for AR needed. Re-views must be submitted by e-mail or on disk.Please send a brief bio with a list of the types of mu-sic you are interested in reviewing to Thomas Cirtin,8128 N. Armstrong Chapel Road, Otterbein, IN 47970,<[email protected]>.
COMPOSERS AND ARRANGERS of recorder musicmay submit works to appear in theComposers/Arrangers series in American Recorder.Contact Stan McDaniel, series editor, at<[email protected] >.
Classified rate for American Recorder: 60¢
per word, ten-word minimum. “FOR SALE”
and “WANTED” may be included in the
copy without counting. Zip code is one
word; phone, e-mail, or web page is two.
Payment must accompany copy. Dead-
lines are one month before issue date.
Send copy with payment to: ARS,
1129 Ruth Drive, St. Louis, MO 63122.
Where the havesand have-nots
of the recorder world can find each other
CONSIDER ADVERTISING IN
Full page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5652/3 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4201/2 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3451/3 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2701/4 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2101/6 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1651/8 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1201/12 page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 901 column inch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 55
Prices include web site/e-mail link directly from your ad in AR On-line, <www.recorderonline.org>.
Circulation: Includes the membership of theAmerican Recorder Society, libraries, and music organizations.
Published five times a year: January, March, May, September, November.
Reservation Deadlines: December 1, February 1,April 1, August 1, October 1.
Rates good through November 2005. Please inquireabout discounts on multiple-issue contracts, inserts,or other special requests. Extra charges fortypesetting, layout, halftones, and size alterations.133-line screen recommended. Advertising subjectto acceptance by magazine. First-time advertisersmust include payment with order.
For more information, contact Steve DiLauro, Adv. Mgr.LaRich & Associates, Inc.15300 Pearl Road, Suite 112Strongsville, OH 44136-5036440-238-5577; Fax: 440-572-2976E-mail: <[email protected]>
48 American Recorder
ADVERTISER INDEXAMERICAN ORFF-SCHULWERK ASSN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
AMERICAN RECORDER SOCIETY . . . . . . 14, 33, 34, 41, IFC
BEATIN’ PATH PUBLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
STEPHAN BLEZINGER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
JEAN-LUC BOUDREAU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 24
BOULDER EARLY MUSIC SHOP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
COLLINS & WILLIAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
COURTLY MUSIC UNLIMITED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
EARLY MUSIC AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
HONEYSUCKLE MUSIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
INTERNATIONAL YOUNG ARTIST’S PRESENTATION . . . 40
KATASTROPHE RECORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
BILL LAZAR’S EARLY MUSIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
MARGRET LÖBNER RECORDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
KEITH E. LORAINE EARLY DOUBLE REED SERVICE. . . . . . 12
MAGNAMUSIC DISTRIBUTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC
MOECK VERLAG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
MOLLENHAUER RECORDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC
OBERLIN BAROQUE PERFORMANCE INSTITUTE . . . . . . 24
PRB PRODUCTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
PRESCOTT WORKSHOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
PROVINCETOWN BOOKSHOP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
THE RECORDER MAGAZINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
THE RECORDER SHOP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
ROBERTO’S WOODWIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC
SWEETHEART FLUTE CO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
JIM TINTER PRODUCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
VON HUENE WORKSHOP, INC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
WICHITA BAND INSTRUMENT CO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
YAMAHA CORPORATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
DOMINIK ZUCHOWICZ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Recorder Magazine
we invite you to visit the sitewww.recordermail.demon.co.uk
Courtly Music Unlimited
800-2-RICHIE (800 274-2443)
www.courtlymusic.com
"Everything for the recorder enthusiast, or those who
would like to be."
Fine wood and plastic recorders, sheet music, method books, play-along CDs,
accessories, workshops.