Thursday Music
On Thursday mornings in normal times I play my recorders in the Friends Meeting House in Wallingford. What I did instead during much of 2020 and 2021 was to send the members of the Group, and other recorder friends, an email with links to favourite pieces on YouTube, mainly involving recorders. My first such email was on March 26th, 2020. I finally stopped after 72 weeks - the last email being on 5th August, 2021.
The first fifteen Thursday emails are repeated below:
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1st email (March 26th). Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir and Orchestra perform Bach's Cantata, BWV 106 (Actus Tragicus), with Marion Verbruggen and Reine-Marie Verhagen (alto recorders) and soloists as listed at the start of the video (duration 20 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i5O923PzeQ
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2nd email (April 2nd). Flanders Recorder Quartet, concert at Yale USA, 2016, recently posted on YouTube (duration 40 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFGwZVt68D0
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3rd email (April 9th). Telemann, Concerto for (alto) Recorder and Flute in E minor, Bremer Baroque Orchestra (players listed on YouTube).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D-y2kJU0lg
Greig, Air from the Holberg Suite, played by the Calefax Reed Quintet, an unusual combination of woodwind instruments. I have heard these players at the Newbury Spring Festival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cglqCWU2Dus
(total duration 20 minutes)
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4th email (April 16th). A number of recordings by famous Danish recorder player Michala Petri (born 1958).
Michala Petri (sopranino) and James Galway (flute) play La Basque by Marais.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1GuPhZRR-E
Michala (soprano) attempts to play Csardas (by Monti) hindered by Victor Borge (piano) - this will remind you of the fate of "Andrew Preview":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIFHVuMb4bE
Michala (on alto and soprano) plays two of Franz Bruggen's Five Studies for alto recorder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBB6rfFyk8o
Michala (soprano) plays "Wat Zal Men op den Avons Doen" ("What shall we do in the evening?") by the blind Dutchman Jacob van Eyck (c.1590-1657) - like many of his pieces for solo soprano a set of variations on a well-known tune of the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwLZcxJLjKQ
Michala (sopranino) plays her own piece "Mads Doss" - variations on a folk tune, like van Eyck's pieces, but with a number of tricks you may not have heard before...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlF7dJLt1PY
Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. Michala Petri plays alto recorder. After prolonged applause, they give an encore of the 3rd movement in which Michala switches to sopranino - and the amazing trumpet player (Reinhold Friedrich) alters his final note. (This was the second of two concerts of all six Brandenburg Concertos, with this one played last. The other players are listed at the end of the recording)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDB5Bi18iW8
(total duration 35 minutes)
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5th email (April 23rd). Recorder Orchestras.
The Phoenix Recorder Orchestra. In 2017 they made a very successful CD, together with soprano Alison Wray - a good advertisement for recorder orchestras. This CD has the contrast of the tracks with and without the singer. Having recorded too much music to fit on the CD, they decided that two tracks without the singer (each 3 minutes) should be freely available on their website:
https://www.phoenixrecorderorchestra.org.uk/index.php/phoenix-cd-2017/
Other recordings of the orchestra can also be heard on this website - go to "Gallery", and choose 2015.
The Meguro Recorder Orchestra (Meguro is an area of Tokyo). Recorder Orchestras are popular in Taiwan, Japan and China. Here is this large orchestra playing Andrew Challinger's Spring Dance, another piece we are playing at Wallingford:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkbOKRnn32k
Here the same orchestra sounds like a fairground organ in some cheerful pieces (8 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZTWbDhxKaA
The Berlin Recorder Orchestra like playing arrangements of Bach's organ pieces. Here is one of his smaller pieces, his Prelude and Fugue in C, BWV 553:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVQ4OWAMp_8
Woodwork plays Holborne and Brade. An excellent British consort not an orchestra, but a recording I like very much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6XQ-C4EpLQ
(total duration 27 minutes)
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6th email (April 30th). These are performances to watch as well as listen to! Mainly quartets but no recorders in the last one.
The Flautadors (UK Recorder Quartet) - "Bavardage", excerpts from their CD (2017).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewu26QgoQN0
Serena Recorder Quartet play the Pink Panther, in their own style!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeSuYk33zns
Uccellini: Aria sopra la Bergamasca: Tabea Debus and Olwen Foulkes (soprano recorders).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXjanumHN28
Bach/Vivaldi concerto in D minor, BWV 596, 1st movement: Bach's arrangement for organ of a concerto by Vivaldi. Video of the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet recording the piece for their CD "Fugue around the Clock" (2008).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHlPUcNFatk
The same quartet play "The Jogger" by Dick Coomans - with an entertaining video about a man with a heavy recorder ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdCLrdOQK4c
Kathryn Tickell demonstrates the Northumbrian pipes, with Peter Tickell (violin), Amy Thatcher(accordion) and Joss Clapp (guitar) at the Proms 2011.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWkmer6cgiM
(total duration 27 minutes).
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7th email (May 7th). A number of recordings by young Dutch recorder player Lucie Horsch (born 1999).
Lucie, aged 9, plays Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5, at an outdoor concert in Amsterdam (3 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQd2oeOeXic
Handel: "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba"). Lucie Horsch and Charlotte Barbour-Condini play the oboe parts on soprano recorders (3 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AJMrub11Lk
Vivaldi: Lucie plays soprano in two movements from a concerto in G (6 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcaJyzvlrik
In this very recent video Lucie Horsch plays 5 different recorders to an almost empty concert hall in Rotterdam (18 minutes) and then talks about life under lockdown (6 minutes - in Dutch but with English subtitles). By the way "recorder" is "blokfluit" in Dutch, and "blockflote" in German (with dots over the 2nd o).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJfs9OqNuKE
(total duration 36 minutes.)
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8th email (May 14th). Here is Eliza Haskins playing at the Woodwind Final of the BBC Young Musician last Sunday, 10th May (16 minutes). A very varied programme!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08ckp8h
After which I want to get back to conventional recorder playing. Here is Eliza in another competition, playing Detri, Sonata in C minor (3 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SknM8KGB-Ao
Now two pieces by British composers:
Hidehiro Nakamura(2014) plays all the parts (SATB) of the Suite in D by Robin Milford(1903-1959) (7 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h32WdFkcW2s
Il Flautario(2011) play "Riffs", the third piece of "Ballad, Blues and Riffs" (for SAATB) by Andrew Challinger (2 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRJqOGCMPpo
(total duration 28 minutes).
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9th email (May 21st). More performances by the Flanders Recorder Quartet(FRQ), who were featured in my 2nd email - a long time ago.
FRQ: Bach/Vivaldi concerto BWV596b, 3rd movement (fugue) (3 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di6dl5jBwh4
FRQ: Catch (an angel), Willem Wander van Nieuwkerk (1 minute).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4HBW8quYtM
Just three players made a trip to Seoul, South Korea, in 2009. This is presumably a TV programme of that visit. Some excellent playing, often of three altos. (25 minutes, but nothing of interest in the last 3 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWpQGxrkg-g
FRQ: Moonlight Serenade (3 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yunl7Uc6qGU&list=RDyunl7Uc6qGU&start_radio=1
(total duration 32 minutes).
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10th email (May 28th)
Bach, Christmas Oratorio (opening chorus), performed by Solomon's Knot (8 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf758WlFJDI
Telemann, Fantasia No. 3 in D minor, Franz Bruggen (alto recorder) (4 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQatlvFvGdM
Soren Seig: Yitsho, Yintoni ulonwabo (2015), Flanders Recorder Quartet + 1 (6 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTm9HrBhZMg
Telemann: Duet for alto recorders in B flat (Der getreue Music-Meister) (8 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i74jnpOdFq8
Louis Armstrong(1928), West End Blues (3 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WPCBieSESI
(total duration 29 minutes).
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11th email (June 4th) Corelli, La Folia, played by Michala Petri (alto) and Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord) (10 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXSsN5SDyM0
Bach: Sarabande from the Lute Suite in E minor played by Sean Shibe (guitar) (3 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yqjl1jKdi8
Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Barbara Hannigan (soprano) + 8 cellos (8 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUCuEd1tjCg
Telemann: Concerto in F for 4 alto recorders, played by the Bux Quartet (whom I have just discovered!) (6 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfzJWvcJCWs
Emily Baines introduces and plays the double recorder (6 minutes).
(total duration 33 minutes).
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12th email (June 11th). John Hawkes(!), Suite for five recorders played by Ensemble Escargot (from Tokyo) (13 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7i1aWXxOaU&t=93s
Handel; "As steals the morn" (from L'Allegro) played by the Voices of Music (USA) (7 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVCtCxnJyKY
Telemann Canonic Sonata No. 1 in B flat - two alto recorders play the same music, 1 bar apart (5 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuH8l2lczgw&t=74s
One of a set of six sonatas by Telemann. The second player starts when the first reaches the curly "S" sign, and stops at the pause sign near the end (ignored by the first player). You can play along with this piece, being either first or second player - try the slow movement first!
Purcell: The Gordian Knot Untied, Chaconne, Air and Minuet (4 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDLjgzeW89c
(total duration: 29 minutes)
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13th email (June 18th). Jean-Francois Dandrieu(1684-1737) Musette and Double, played by Hanneke van Proosdij (harpsichord) (3 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRGR4MugweE
Bach: Two movements from the Flute Sonata in E minor, played by Kristine West (alto recorder) (7 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDrpMA6_rw4
Telemann, Concerto for 4 violins in G (6 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtxcH5erQ1E
(2 weeks ago we had another of these concertos, arranged for 4 alto recorders).
Mozart, Quintet for Horn and Strings, Katy Woolley (horn) (12 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFw4YWJ-pIc
Jacob van Eyck, Boffons, again played by Hanneke van Proosdij (alto recorder in G) (2 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEV_25Zad8U
(This is piece no. 105 in Volume 3 of Der Fluyten Lust-hof).
(total duration 30 minutes)
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!4th email (June 25th)
J.M. Hotteterre(1674-1763), Prelude and A.D. Philidor(1681-1728), Sonata: Lucie Horsch(recorders) and Thomas Dunford(lute) (5 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW4wU6ahpxM
J.K.F. Fischer(1662-1746), Chaconne in F played by Kathy Perl, harpsichord (4 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQzuXvQcdo
(There are many versions on YouTube played on organ or harpsichord - perhaps his best known piece?)
Telemann: Sonata for oboe and flute in E minor (12 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdtIMaGztEw
(You can play along with this, the first movement being the easiest. Expand the video to the whole screen to make the music legible. The flute part can be played on an alto recorder, apart from a few notes, and the oboe part on a tenor recorder)
Gabriel Pierne(1863-1937), Introduction and Variations for Saxophone Quartet (9 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3rynam8QeU
(total duration 30 minutes)
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15th email (July 2nd)
Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir and Orchestra perform Bach's Cantata, BWV 106 (Actus Tragicus), with Marion Verbruggen and Reine-Marie Verhagen (alto recorders) and soloists as listed at the start of the video (duration 20 minutes).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i5O923PzeQ
(repeated from the 1st email)
Bach, Andante from Brandenburg No. 4. An unusual performance.(4 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY_KLDOVLos
(Bach wrote "Flauti d'echo". Perhaps this is what he meant. I don't think anyone knows).
Mozart, Quartet in F for oboe and strings (14 minutes): you can either listen or play along with this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJhlhoJNioo
The music is on the screen. Quite a lot of the oboe part can be played on an alto recorder! More with practice. Of course, I still leave out or simplify most of the fast runs. Some low notes I put up an octave. Tenor players can play the violin part (2nd line) leaving out the hard bits. Bass players play the cello part (4th line) - easy but perhaps boring. The viola part (3rd line) is in their own funny clef - and impossible for recorder players (I have tried!)
A very short piece, which might amuse (35 seconds):
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(last modified 12th October 2021)