Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: Wowbagger on 26 August, 2020, 10:46:04 pm
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A comment by one of our fine forummers prompted me to start this thread.
There's a wealth of wonderful music for recorders. Sadly, things go in and out of fashion and recorders, where they have been scored in baroque orchestras, have frequently been replaced by flutes. I've been watching a lot of videos by Sarah Jeffery, who is a virtuoso recorder player and makes a lot of videos. Some of them are a bit frivolous, but on the whole I think she've very good and makes stuff quite approachable.
Here she is playing a Bach trio, originally written for organ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgXHa7WVGs4
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I thought that would be me making the obvious jab.
I can also do inversely snobby about violins and fiddles...
I'd have a listen but the link doesn't show in Tapatalk and I'm currently severely reduced in the hearing department.
Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk
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Apologies. I meant to link to the video which I failed to do, instead linking to your quote. I've corrected it now.
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Love me a bit of Michala Petri, personally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFV-zW-dn9g (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFV-zW-dn9g)
I've got a couple of Dolmetsch rosewood recorders (a descant and a treble) that had been sitting unplayed for 20-odd years before my parents found them tucked away in a wardrobe in their spare room. Although I'm nowhere near as good as I was when I was in my teens, it's amazing how the muscle memory comes back and I can play some Corelli and Bach pieces without music. What's more, I can figure out melodies, for example, to various Christmas carols that I've never played, without sheet music (transposing into an easy key!), only occasionally messing up and finding I need an extra note or so at the bottom or top!
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I haven't listened to much recorder music lately. I do have a few recordings lurking on lps, cds and on hard drive - mostly by Frans Bruggen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQatlvFvGdM).
I have a bunch of various plastic ones from sopranino to tenor. The Yamaha treble's not bad. The only wooden one is a Mollenhauer descant.
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We have a couple of good recorders. Jan has a Moeck alto which we bought second-hand years ago and at the time I'm sure we were told it was pear wood. I have found some very similar items on ebay and they are all described as maple. That's a Rottenburgh imitation. Mine is a gorgeous tenor in bubinga.
I have never really learned the alto fingering and I think it's a great shame that we don't treat the alto and bass as transposing instruments and just write all the music a 4th lower than it sounds. The alto stuff would fit on the stave better as well as removing the need for mental gymnastics whilst playing. I'm still at the stage of "that's written as an E so I play the fingering of a B."
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Just as long as it's not sapient pear wood.
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Mrs C has a wooden tenor, stored away somewhere, that sounds lovely. Very mellow.
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Sarah Jeffrey is great - really enjoy her videos. Lucie Horsch is excellent too.
I'm not really a recorder player, but have managed to amass a menagerie of plastic instruments from garklein to bass (everyone needs a garklein in their life - how else do you play music for dogs?).
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I have a full set, including a wooden bass which has a really lovely tone, once it (and its player) are properly warmed up.
I had to google garklein- I've always called it a piccolo?
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I have never really learned the alto fingering and I think it's a great shame that we don't treat the alto and bass as transposing instruments and just write all the music a 4th lower than it sounds. The alto stuff would fit on the stave better as well as removing the need for mental gymnastics whilst playing. I'm still at the stage of "that's written as an E so I play the fingering of a B."
Alto (you say alto, I say treble) fingering is very similar to the clarinet, which I played as a yoof. Nonetheless, having got to a reasonable-ish standard (working towards Grade 6 when I was 11 or 12) on the descant, it blew my mind to start learning the treble and I also do/did the fingering equivalence mental gymnastics...
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I can do either descant or treble fingering- but like everything else, I'm now pretty rusty and warming up & getting into the groove takes longer than I have patience for. An annual carol session is hardly regular practise.
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A large parcel was waiting for me when I came back from my bike ride. They are all things of great loveliness and I have to make a decision. Well, two decisions really as I have to decide if I can which is the best of the three. To my surprise, the grenadilla (a dense, black hardwood) seems to be the least powerful of the three. I somehow expected it to be the strongest and that at the moment is in pole position to be sent back.
Shortly after I arrived home another package arrived: a load of sheet music. I think I know what I will be doing for most of the afternoon.
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Most evil instrument ever invented by mankind :demon:
(I make a small exception for "Stairway to Heaven")
Edit: I've just listened again and it sounds awful in Stairway, too. I suppose they wanted a bit of elves-and-goblins vibe.
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I have never really learned the alto fingering and I think it's a great shame that we don't treat the alto and bass as transposing instruments and just write all the music a 4th lower than it sounds. The alto stuff would fit on the stave better as well as removing the need for mental gymnastics whilst playing. I'm still at the stage of "that's written as an E so I play the fingering of a B."
Alto (you say alto, I say treble) fingering is very similar to the clarinet, which I played as a yoof. Nonetheless, having got to a reasonable-ish standard (working towards Grade 6 when I was 11 or 12) on the descant, it blew my mind to start learning the treble and I also do/did the fingering equivalence mental gymnastics...
It's some time since I explored the world of recorders and descant ant treble were the terms used. Now they are mostly referred to as the soprano and alto, which I think is more logical - after all, I doubt that anyone has ever referred to a "descantino".
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Descant and treble are the terms I remember using, too. An SATB consort makes more sense, though!
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CET Junior #2 is the recorder player in the family, and has a family of recorders from descant to bass. Played well it's much nicer to listen to than his cello or the drums, event though he has a reasonable talent with the drums, when he can be persuaded to practice.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcvoX9Kuoj0
Very enjoyable interview between Sarah Jeffery and Michala Petri. I liked lots of things about that video, not least the magic disappearing baby, but most of all, MP's arrangement of the Bach Cello Suite. Incidentally, the recorder she'a playing is a modern Mollenhauer alto priced at about £1600.
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I have always loved Bach's cello suites, but I think I might love them even more now...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PAhkoATipk&ab_channel=atsusiueno
Frans Bruggen, performing in that, was appointed a professor of music at the age of 21. It was he who arranged the Bach violin sonata for alto recorder that I am currently trying to learn.
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Emily O’Brien is a Randonneurs USA member who has completed some tough brevets on fixed, sews some well-regarded bike bags and is a professional recorder player.
http://www.canzonet.net/about/
https://www.dillpicklegear.com/author/emily/
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Wow! That Mollenhauer Helder recorder she mentions looks really lovely, at an appropriate price.
https://www.mollenhauer.com/en/catalog/recorders/series-overview/helder/altor-recorder-helder-grenadilla-detail#content
You do realise that n+1 also applies to recorders, and they take up a lot less space than bicycles...
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I've been very familiar with the Brandenburg Concertos for over 50 years, since Brandenburg no 1 was one of my O level set works. I must have been about 14 when I bought all 6 on LP.
I recently watched & listened to a Youtube video of no 4, which is scored two recorders, amongst other things. I'm pretty sure that the recordings I bought in the 1960s had transverse flutes playing the recorder parts: playing on appropriate-period instruments hadn't really caught on at that stage, since it was only very shortly after John Eliot Gardiner conducted a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers at Cambridge, using period instruments as far as he could.
I downloaded the recorder parts for Brandenburg no 4 and I've been playing them. Most of the second (slow) movement is at a speed at which I can play them. It really is like magic suddenly to be able to reproduce something with which I have been so familiar for so long. I'd love to play in an orchestral performance.
Which reminds me of a conversation I had with my brother a few months ago (pre-Covid). He had to curtail the phone call because he was about to drive out to Bishops Castle where he was going to meet a few fellow musicians and spend the afternoon playing his flute in an ensemble. I said how envious I was of him being able to do that, and saying that playing music wth other people was the real thing, whereas being a pianist was more like wanking, a comment he found quite amusing.
Of course, there are works in which the piano takes part in a chamber ensemble, but in general the demands made of the pianist are very strong, and in general such pieces are very difficult.
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Many (many many many !) years ago I saw a group called "Red Priest" performing the four seasons. The tenor recorder player was truly superb. I'll see if I can find a video.
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I've started learning the flute part from J. S. Bach's "Badinerie", from the B minor orchestral suite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsiqjGgwuU8&ab_channel=NetherlandsBachSociety
I am finding the recorder part rather easier than the piano accompaniment at this stage! I'd like to knit together videos of me playing each part.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hggISFswKcw&ab_channel=HochrheinMusikfestival
Maurice Steger is exhausting to watch.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G0Yh3wg3js&ab_channel=RiqueBorges
Bach solo string pieces arranged for recorder. Gorgeous...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YWdReyt9mc&feature=push-sd&attr_tag=B_lFPxAL8tPbn8D9%3A6&ab_channel=BremerBarockorchester
Another bonkers performance by Dorothee Oberlinger.
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Much woe in the 'Bagger household yesterday: my precious olivewood alto recorder, as purchased in late August, has developed a crack. It seems that this is an occasional problem - and writes off a recorder. It still makes a lovely sound, but...
It's to do with the "block" (it's called a blockflute for a reason), which is usually cedar, expanding at a different rate from the surrounding wood when the condensation from your breath works its way into the wood grain, in this case olive. You have to play recorders in - no more than 15 minutes' use per day for the first 6 weeks or so. It's under a 3 year guarantee.
I have other alto recorders to play, but this is by far the best. I'm about to take it to the sorting office.
I'm clearly going to have to buy at least 3 really good alto recorders so that I can play for 2 hours per day... ;)
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I'm clearly going to have to buy at least 3 really good alto recorders so that I can play for 2 hours per day... ;)
Oh dear! What a shame.
There is no escape from GAS!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1-TpSufe-o&feature=push-sd&attr_tag=hc6GuXkAFbZX8Zht%3A6&ab_channel=JamesHowardYoung
Some people are too clever for their own good. Even with red trousers.
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Much woe in the 'Bagger household yesterday: my precious olivewood alto recorder, as purchased in late August, has developed a crack. It seems that this is an occasional problem - and writes off a recorder. It still makes a lovely sound, but...
It's to do with the "block" (it's called a blockflute for a reason), which is usually cedar, expanding at a different rate from the surrounding wood when the condensation from your breath works its way into the wood grain, in this case olive. You have to play recorders in - no more than 15 minutes' use per day for the first 6 weeks or so. It's under a 3 year guarantee.
I have other alto recorders to play, but this is by far the best. I'm about to take it to the sorting office.
I'm clearly going to have to buy at least 3 really good alto recorders so that I can play for 2 hours per day... ;)
Really sorry to see this, Wow!
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The Early Music Shop told me they were to send out a replacement today. Should arrive Monday.
I have 3 or 4 other alto recorders to play: my old Dolmetsch plastic which I hardly play now (funnily enough, my pal Panny ha wat appears to be an identical recorder but badged EMI), Jan has a Moeck in pear wood, I have a Mollenhauer with a plastic head joint and pear body, and also a very nice recorder hand-made in resin from Vincent Bernolin, France. The one drawback with the resin recorder is that you have to be careful it doesn't get too condensationy. The advantage is that there's no limit to the amount of time you can play it. Wooden recorders absorb quite a bit of moisture, especially when new, and the wood expands. That is why you have to limit them to about 15 minutes a day for the first month or so, and then gradually build up to about an hour a day. Condensation makes it very hard to reach the high notes reliably. It's the harsh sounds which come with that that put the Rogerzillas of this world off soprano (descant) recorders. They are already pretty shrill when they are played well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVj5ta6VFdE&feature=push-sd&attr_tag=eo_1JnrI_u6N8_TY%3A6&ab_channel=JamesHowardYoung
Here's some more cleverness from James Howard Young.
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I am finding that I am increasingly walking around with the head joint of a recorder in my shirt pocket, keeping it warm in case I need a quick blow...
For the uninitiated, warming your recorder before playing it reduces condensation, and condensation in the wind canal is the biggest cause of squeaky and duff notes.
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When I was a student and going to church services in a cold, largely empty, Victorian church, one buxom recorder players would keep hers in her cleavage. This was not conducive to prayerful thoughts.
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When I was a student and going to church services in a cold, largely empty, Victorian church, one buxom recorder players would keep hers in her cleavage. This was not conducive to prayerful thoughts.
Dear Lord, in your infinite wisdom and mercy, next time round, may I come back as a recorder?
See also "I think that I should rather like
To be the saddle of a bike."
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I_7Qc8HqHQ&fbclid=IwAR0pXPX7Qp8gYFivqHOtqOwNQCoMg7Lm9BEDyKd9cijTH3hVzbFEquyW6eM&ab_channel=Kl%C3%A1raValentovi%C4%8Dov%C3%A1
Amazing performance by a 10-year-old.
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https://twitter.com/_youhadonejob1/status/1338932563218477057?s=20
I saw this Tweet* & thought of Wowbagger..... ;)
*Hat tip to quixoticgeek who retweeted it.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLOhOx7D4NA&list=PLBR1wK6qsUNqp6gyabm6vimj94EQpJ6KQ&index=1&t=0s&fbclid=IwAR1z-YLXTIxGQiun7qGe7A14emC-2wo6qKj03OiABVT5fyGsZ8x7LENgbjk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLOhOx7D4NA&list=PLBR1wK6qsUNqp6gyabm6vimj94EQpJ6KQ&index=1&t=0s&fbclid=IwAR1z-YLXTIxGQiun7qGe7A14emC-2wo6qKj03OiABVT5fyGsZ8x7LENgbjk)
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https://twitter.com/_youhadonejob1/status/1338932563218477057?s=20
I saw this Tweet* & thought of Wowbagger..... ;)
*Hat tip to quixoticgeek who retweeted it.
Oddly enough, someone on a piano teaching FB group of which I am a member showed a similar picture and said that was all one of her students had to practise on.
Meawhile, I've jsut stumbled across this rather good group:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=892vwX6eE3Q&ab_channel=EnsambleBarrocodeBogota
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yp61ty9keQ&ab_channel=SarahCantor
That's a very fine arrangement, beautifully played.
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I thought I'd posted this earlier but can't see it.
What does a church organist in lockdown do?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVj5ta6VFdE&list=RDMM&index=3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVj5ta6VFdE&list=RDMM&index=3)
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Yes, that chap is very good. I thought I'd posted some of his earlier. The scherzo from Beethoven's 9th springs to mind.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hggISFswKcw&list=RDMM&index=2&ab_channel=HochrheinMusikfestival
More Maurice Steger.
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TV's Radio's Tom Service is doing a piece on recorder music on the Third Programme as I type.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySXVehKmPNE&ab_channel=PinkNoiseRecorderQuintet
That's lovely!
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Another wonderful arrangement, this time of Bach's Goldberg Variations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwITisbue7Y
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And now, James Howard Young, who definitely qualifies for the elite club yclept Clever Bastards, plays Beethoven's 5th symphony finale on 30 recorders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpj6sJF1Mnk&ab_channel=JamesHowardYoung
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KKDD0stwCI&ab_channel=BerlinerBlockfl%C3%B6tenOrchester
A lovely rendition of "Abide with Me".
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LON2eFvFgUs&ab_channel=JamesHowardYoung
James Howard Young. Amazing stuff.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTm9HrBhZMg
That's rather good!
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Enjoyed that, Wow. Much more (over) involved but it put me in mind of Elias and his Zig Zag Flutes (I think) who had a hit with Tom Hark in the 50s. Much simpler.
I love "township". Here's a (long) example you might enjoy, employing correct use of the piano by the legendary Abdullah Ibrahim (aka Dollar Brand) and a lovely bass guitar ostinato:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF03w6Pajlg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF03w6Pajlg)
Hope you enjoy it!
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Another incredible performance by James Howard Young, this time of a Vivaldi concerto originally for two violins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUf0dfh3myM&ab_channel=JamesHowardYoung
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No comment.
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JHY again…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7nB0VOFaAU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7nB0VOFaAU)
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He's amazing, ins't he?
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Indeed!
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And another… https://fb.watch/iHLWNJhysY/ (https://fb.watch/iHLWNJhysY/)
Flight of the Bumblebee
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:thumbsup:
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Playing 25 recorders using a guitar.
The "Hellcorder" amplifier
https://youtu.be/WuB2tH-wnXY
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Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should!
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I've just signed up for an intermediate recorder course via my local adult education programme. Quite excited - and will be watching some of the videos on this thread for inspiration! :thumbsup:
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That sounds rather good. Keep us informed re what pieces you are learning!
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https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/05/recorder-fans-warn-instrument-heading-for-extinction-pandemic-decline-young-people (https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/05/recorder-fans-warn-instrument-heading-for-extinction-pandemic-decline-young-people)
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Yes, I read that. I would guess that of the kids who learn the recorder in primary school, about 0% of them are still playing when they are 15.
I read of a case, on the same recorder group that I am on on FB, of a guy who had a very accomplished recorder quartet of 11 year olds. They performed in the school and the rest of the kids took the piss out of them so much that they all gave up. I think that's a fairly British phenomenon (I had a reasonably talented piano pupil in one school who, again at Year 6, decided she didn't want to do it any more because it wasn't "cool") but would like to be persuaded otherwise. My impression is that mainland Europeans are far more culturally broadminded than are the British.