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Pieces for Recorder (2009–11)
for any type of recorder
Twenty-two out of twenty-four pieces for recorder in this collection were composed in late 2009 and early 2010. I made plans
to compose at least two more works (mostly because I disliked the number 22), but the year turned out to be, music-wise, a
complete horror, and I only managed to produce the additional pieces in early 2011. My initial inspiration for this project was my
wife taking up the instrument, so I started out writing simple pieces for her. Many of the works here are semi-didactic in purpose,
most probably because of this original inspiration; other pieces, particularly the ones composed last, are fiendishly difficult and
require not only perfect technique, but also a particularly good instrument.
Styles and techniques here range from the simplest quasi-improvised melodic lines (Mary's Song, The Simple Piece) to
Baroque-ish contrapuntal pieces (two fugues and a chaconne) and post-war avant-garde. The latter is particularly well represented,
with four indeterminate pieces composed using various chance procedures. Techniques vary from piece to piece. For example,
Grasslands embellishes and melds two different melodies that gradually exchange various characteristic features, and at the end
a passage indicates the presence of another melody somewhere beyond the boundatires of the piece. The Invisible Labyrinth
is much more traditional, simply stating a melody in the first part and its inversion in the second, except that both are so heavily
ornamented that the plan of the piece is difficult to distinguish by ear.
Another piece, Shrimp vs. Environment (somewhat inspired by Max Ernst's titles), may look like a controlled improvisation, but
is actually just a piece of program music with no mathematics behind it. Still another piece, Nightbirds, employs the serial idea
on the basic level the recorder provides. And on the whole, quite a few pieces are good exercises, studies of various time signatures,
rhythmic ideas, and so on, intended for, and used by, amateur recorder players.
Although the score indicates the descant (soprano) recorder, most pieces work equally well on instruments of any range, and some
are best suited for other ranges (e.g. Chocolate 5 and Meadows for tenor recorder).
PDF score of all movements
Audio:
Environments:
– Grasslands
– Meadows
– Nightbirds
Indeterminate Pieces:
– The Photograph
– Brad's Contribution
– A Ring of Stars
– Felicity
Songs:
– Three Cherries
– Mary's Song
– Evening Song
– Song of the Fall
Dances:
– Bird Dance
– The Healing Dance
– The Lazy Dance
– The Silly Dance
Baroque:
– Chaconnette
– Fuga 1 (Prestissimo)
– Fuga 2 (Moderato)
Miscellany:
– Shrimp vs. Environment
– Retired Warrior vs. Memory
– Chocolate 5
– The Simple Piece
New Pieces for Recorder:
– The Invisible Labyrinth
– Helix Swing