Journey Through the Classics 2 Late Elementary: Piano: Instrumental Album

SKU: FP.FTJ06

ISBN 9780951479537.

Composing for the recorder can be intimidating for those with limited or no experience playing the instrument. John Turner's new book is the ideal primer, taking the would be recorder composer on a journey through the history of recorder composition, and onwards to explore player techniques and the musicality offered by this versatile instrument. Each section is extensively referenced to exisiting compositions, providing a fantastic platform for further research by the reader.

About the Author:

JOHN TURNER is one of the leading recorder players of today. Born in Stockport, he was Senior Scholar in Law at Fitzwilliam College Cambridge before pursuing a legal career, acting for many distinguished musicians and musical organisations alongside his many musical activities. These included numerous appearances and recordings with David Munrow's Early Music Consort of London, the Academy of Ancient Music, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the English Baroque Soloists. He now devotes his time to playing, writing, reviewing, publishing, composing and generally energising.

He has played as recorder soloist with the Halle Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Manchester Camerata, the English Baroque Soloists, the English Chamber Orchestra, and many other leading orchestras and ensembles. Concertos and works with orchestra have been written for him by Gordon Crosse, Anthony Gilbert, Peter Hope, Kenneth Leighton, Elis Pehkonen, Alan Bullard, John Casken, and many other distinguished composers. His recordings include no less than five sets of the Brandenburg Concertos, as well as the F Major version of Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 with Menuhin and George Malcolm, but lately he has madenumerous acclaimed recordings of the recorder’s contemporary concerto and chamber music repertoire, including several concerto discs, all of which have received critical acclaim. In all, he has given the first performances of over 600 works for the recorder, with works by many non-British composers, including Leonard Bernstein, Ned Rorem, Peter Sculthorpe, Douglas Lilburn and Petr Eben.

Many of the works he has premiered have now entered the instrument’s standard repertoire, and these and his own recorder compositions are regularly set for festivals and examinations. He edits series of recorder publications for both Forsyths and Peacock Press, and founded the periodical Manchester Sounds, in response to the perceived threat to music libraries in Great Britain. In addition he was responsible for the rediscovery of several works for his instrument, including the Rawsthorne Recorder Suite, Antony Hopkins' Pastiche Suite, Herbert Murrill’s Sarabande, the Handel F Major Trio Sonata and John Parry's Nightingale Rondo (the only substantial known British nineteenth century work for a fipple flute). He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Northern College of Music in 2002 for his services to British music, and is a Visiting Distinguished Scholar of Manchester University.

SKU: MB.30963

ISBN 9781513468204. 8.75x11.75 inches.

This exceptional collection of 41 truly beautiful airs and ballads from the British Isles offers both well-known tunes by the prolific blind Irish harpist, Turlough O�??Carolan and rarely heard melodies by anonymous composers; all have stood the test of time. Arranged for soprano or tenor recorder, these include O�??Carolan�??s classically influenced �??Lord Inchiquin�?� and �??Eleanor Plunkett�?� as well as �??O Gentle Dove�?� and �??Cuckoo Dear�?��?? both examples of the strong tradition of song in Wales. Among other tunes, the haunting modal melodies of �??The Dark Slender Boy�?� and �??Enchanted Valley�?� express the melancholic heart and soul of the British Isles.

A few of these songs have taken on a life of their own in modern times. �??Bonny at Morn�?�, a popular traditional tune of northern England and Scotland, was arranged for soprano voice and harp by the 20th century British composer, Benjamin Britten. �??The Skye Boat Song�?� originally recounted Bonnie Prince Charles Edward Stuart�??s journey to the Isle of Skye after his defeat at the historic Battle of Culloden. Later, the song evolved into a lilting lullaby and was more recently used as the theme song for the popular Outlander television series.

Departing slightly from recorder notation practice, author Marcia Diehl has judiciously arranged these melodies complete with spare slur markings to aid the amateur player in authentically and musically rendering these tunes.