Cave of the Black Spring (DTrTTBGtBCtB)
MHE 10623 £11.50
I read that there was a dramatic cave in the Swansea Valley which was surprisingly little-known. Surprising because it is the deepest in the UK, as well as the second longest in Wales. This cave is called ‘Cave of the Black Spring’ (‘Ogof Ffynnon Ddu’ in Welsh). It is called the ‘Black Spring’ because it flows through many chambers, passing through black limestone that, over the centuries, has produced waterfalls, rapids and deep potholes. Although I had no intention of visiting the cave myself, I often thought about it, in particular how the black water could be sometimes slow-moving, but then faster moving with water dripping from the roof. This eight-minute piece is not particularly difficult, but concentration is required because of the length of the piece, and because the speeds change frequently requiring attention to the conductor.
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Five Hoddesdon Miniatures (DTrTrTBGtBCtB)
MHE 30221 £13.50
I
II
III
IV
V
I wrote these pieces for the Autumn Recorder Orchestra weekend, held at Hoddesdon. They were for use at an easier intermediate session, in which everyone on the course would be able to make a good contribution to the music. Each miniature uses a small range of rhythmic figures, which occur in most or all parts. It is hence possible to rehearse those figures, so that the performance becomes more secure.
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Four French Chansons (Lassus) (DTrTTBBGtBCtB)
MHE 30822 £14.00
Gallans qui par terre
Avec le jour
Bonjour mon coeur
Un jour vis un foulon
Along with Palestrina and Victoria, Lassus was (and is) considered to be the most famous and influential musician at the end of the 16th century. At the time of writing I have published three sets of ‘The Lassus Collection’. The set you are now
looking at is the result of taking four-part French-language chansons from 'The Lassus Collection' and converting them into larger-scale works for orchestra. A great sound!
Total playing time is
about six minutes.
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Sinfonietta No 2 (SnoDTrTrTTBBGtBCtB)
MHE 40421 £17.50
I
II
III
IV
V
When I wrote about my first Sinfonietta, I said that it was easy to play, and filled with tuneful and sunny music. Thirteen years have passed since then and, unsurprisingly, my musical style has moved on. Certainly I still enjoy writing pieces that are easy to play, but this twelve-minute Sinfonietta is not one of those pieces - it does have its tricky moments, not least rhythmically. But I think that I have retained a liking for ‘real tunes’. In places they may be a little darker than they used to be, but the sunshine is never very far away!
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Two Traditional Songs (DDTrTrTTBBGtBCtB)
MHE 71120 £10.00
Greensleeves
She Moved Through the Fair
Some years ago I started to run sessions in which players of modest technique could experience the thrilling sound of massed playing in several parts. These sessions became something that has been one of my main musical activities (and Steve’s too). In order to fuel such sessions, there is a need for suitable music – easy and in many parts. When I started off, I could find none at all, so over the years we have both written and arranged a lot of music for easy recorder orchestra. These ‘Two Traditional Songs’ are good examples. They are easy to play but, especially with a big group, produce a huge sound and are very well-received by the players!
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Three Chansons by Guyot (DTrTrTTBGtBCtB)
MHE 80324 £15.00
Jean Guyot (1512-1588) was Franco-Flemish. He travelled widely, but in 1564 he finally settled down in Liège. He was highly regarded by his contemporaries. The rich arrangements of these three rather sad chansons are particularly suited to large forces. The combined duration is ten minutes.
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Recorder Septet No 4 (DTrTrTBGtBCtB)
MHE 80522 £15.50
Allegro
Larghetto
Andante
Air
Allegro
My fourth septet has a slightly mellower instrumentation than the first three, using a second treble instead of a sopranino. It is again equally suited to one-to-a-part playing or several-to-a-part orchestral playing. The piece is in five varied movements and has a total playing time of about ten minutes.
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Spring Sinfonietta (DTrTrTTBB)
MHE 90522 £14.00
Allegretto
Andante
Waltz
Finale
My Spring Sinfonietta found much favour pre-publication. It’s often difficult to know why some pieces are popular, and others are not. Maybe this piece has a feeling of the world leaving winter behind. Or perhaps its allegretto-andante-waltz-finale structure is familiar and comforting. Whatever the reason, I was very pleased!
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Pie Jesu (Fauré) (DTrTrTBGtBCtB)
MHE 60812 £5.50
This is the famous Pie Jesu from Fauré's Requiem. It sounds great on recorders, although the tuning of some of Fauré's gorgeous chords may need some attention! The great bass and contrabass are essential.
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March: Fort Popham (Hall) (DDTrTTBBBGtBCtB)
MHE 20120 £8.50
Robert Hall (1858-1907) was very well-known in the USA and throughout the world, particularly in the UK. March: Fort Popham is a crowd-pleasing piece with some great tunes. Other than a couple of bars of chromatic scales, it is straightforward to play.
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Godric's Castle (SnoDDTrTrTTBBGtBCtB)
MHE 60810 £9.00
This five-minute tone poem by Ann Marshall is of no more than moderate difficulty. It suggested itself to her when visiting Goodrich (or, a thousand years ago 'Godric's') Castle, in the Wye Valley. The (Royalist) castle was besieged during the English Civil War and Alice Birch, niece of one of the besieging forces fled to the castle to be with her sweetheart. The story goes that when it was clear that the castle would fall, the two tried to flee across the River Wye on horseback, but were swept to their deaths. The story further goes that their ghosts can sometimes be seen in the castle, looking out across the valley, and that they can even sometimes be seen urging a ghostly horse into the Wye. It's a great tale, and while the piece is not supposed to represent the details of the story, hopefully it conjures up a suitable atmosphere.
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Sonata à 7 (Schmelzer) (TTBBGtBGtBCtBSubCtB(opt))
MHE 21215 £9.50
This piece, by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (?1623-1688) is well-known in the recorder world, so much so that it is often referred to as ‘the Schmelzer’. Ann Marshall rearranged the sonata for an eight-foot orchestra, included in the Autumn Recorder Orchestra Weekend, which took place in October 2015. The instrumentation became two each of tenors, basses and great basses and a contrabass. She also added a part for subcontrabasses which, although optional, adds a great deal to the music.
Total playing time is
about seven minutes.
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Slow Burn (SnoDTrTrTTBBGtBCtB)
MHE 11019 £9.50
Slow Burn, one result of my composition studies with Carla Rees, is broadly minimalist, and is considerably more difficult to play than the rest of my work to date. The time signature is a brisk 4/4 to begin, but then progressively ‘loses’ a quaver, passing through 7/8, 6/8, 5/8 and 4/8. This, together with several changes of key, results in quite a build-up of tension in a piece that lasts only four minutes.
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Suite for Two Choirs (DTrTTBBGtBCtB)
MHE 10314 £10.50
Allegro
Andante
Vivo
Most music in two choirs is quite serious, at least moderately difficult, and composed some hundreds of years ago. I hope that my suite will fill a gap, in that it is cheerful, it is quite straightforward to play, and it was written in 2014! I wrote the suite for the Orchestra on the Hill, on the occasion of their fifth birthday. Total playing time is about six minutes.
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Two Settings of Da Pacem Domine (Lassus) (TTBBGtBCtB(opt)SubCtB)
MHE 10416 £10.50
Da Pacem Nobis 1582
Da Pacem Nobis 1556
I made these arrangements for the first season of the Mellow Tones Recorder Orchestra – the eight-foot orchestra set up and conducted by Helen Hooker. For the uninitiated, the smallest instrument included in an eight-foot recorder orchestra is the tenor, and such a group makes a wonderfully mellow sound. I thought that the two settings of Da Pacem Domine by Lassus would give the orchestra an opportunity to play something of great beauty.
The total playing time of these settings is four minutes at the marked speeds. but the pieces also work extremely well when played more slowly.
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Three Trinkets (DTrTrTTBGtBCtB)
MHE 20713 £11.00
1
2
3
These trinkets are like three different frames of mind. The first is quite happy-go-lucky and has a Caribbean feel, the second is calm and reflective, and the third is energetic in a country dance sort of way. Something else I was trying to do in each piece in this eight-minute suite was to use a lot of imitation, so you will hear little thoughts bouncing backwards and forwards throughout the band. And not least in the first trinket, which features an eight-part canon.
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Four Canzonettas (Thomas Morley) (DTrTTBGtBCtB)
MHE 50812a £12.00
The small orchestra arrangement of the version in three parts.
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From The Mountains To The Sea (SnoDDTrTrTTBBGtBCtB)
MHE 10210 £12.50
This piece pictures the course of a river, from springs in the mountains, passing through upland valleys, dangerous rapids and serene woodlands, finally crossing the plains as a large river, which meets the sea. Ann Marshall's piece is dedicated to Dietrich Schnabel, with thanks for his constant encouragement. This 9-minute piece is of no more than moderate difficulty.
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Three Double Choir Motets (DDTrTrTTBB)
MHE 10715 £13.50
Three motets written in the late 1500s for very popular forces of the day – double choir. Andrea Gabrieli was Venetian, and Giovanni Croce, born just down the coast from Venice, was greatly influenced by him. Francisco Guerrero was Spanish. This type of music is very often presented in minim beats, but I have used crotchets to make this beautiful (but not difficult) music as widely accessible as possible. This set is also available for two TrTBGtB choirs, as MHE10715a. Total playing time is about nine minutes.
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Three Double Choir Motets (TrTrTTBBGtBGtB)
MHE 10715a £13.50
O Salutaris Hostia
Ego Flos Campi
In Spiritu Humilitatis
This is the lower version of MHE10715.
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Seven Monmouth Miniatures (DTrTrTBGtBCtB)
MHE 40718 £14.00
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I wrote these miniatures to celebrate the 30th birthday of the U3A group based at Monmouth. I am the musical director of the recorder ensemble within Monmouth U3A, and the instrumentation reflects the recorders we regularly use. We are a large ensemble, including great bass and contrabass recorders, and those recorders are essential in these miniatures. The seven miniatures explore a variety of moods and, in a reference to the birthday, they are all exactly thirty bars long. The pieces are of no more than moderate difficulty, and work equally well played one-to-a-part, or by a several-to-a-part recorder orchestra. Total playing time is about nine minutes.
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Recorder Septet No 1 (SnoDTrTBGtBCtB)
MHE 30718 £14.50
Intrada
Nocturne
Seascape
Finale
My first recorder septet is in four movements. All movements start with musical material that is the same, apart from key and tempo, but then each movement develops along very different lines. The septet, which is of no more than moderate difficulty, works equally well played one-to-a-part, or by a several-to-a-part recorder orchestra. Total playing time is about eight minutes.
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Recorder Septet No 2 (SnoDTrTBGtBCtB)
MHE 21118 £15.50
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II
III
IV
V
I was encouraged to write a second recorder septet by the success of the first. I think that reasons for its success included that there are still very few recorder septets in existence, and even fewer of only moderate difficulty. This piece is in five, very contrasting movements. It uses the same instrumentation as the first septet – sopranino down to contrabass – and it is equally suited to one-to-a-part playing or several-to-a-part orchestral playing. Total playing time is about nine minutes.
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Recorder Septet No 3 (SnoDTrTBGtBCtB)
MHE 30120 £15.50
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II
III
IV
V
My third recorder septet has the same instrumentation as the first two. It is equally suited to one-to-a-part playing or several-to-a-part orchestral playing. I was encouraged to write another recorder septet because of the shortage of septets and (with all due modesty) by the success of the others. Total playing time is about ten minutes.
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Five Short Pieces for Recorder Orchestra (SnoDDTrTrTTBBGtBCtB)
MHE 21107 £14.50
1
2
3
4
5
Ann Marshall has packed lots of terrific tunes into a total playing time of 12 minutes. These fun and rhythmic pieces are easier than normal recorder orchestra fare, so they may appeal to orchestras looking for some lighter music which they can easily get to grips with, as well as finding favour at the 'easy recorder orchestra' events which are quickly becoming popular.
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Four Double Choir Motets by Jacob Gallus (DTrTB/DTrTB)
MHE 21109 £14.50
Adoramus te, Jesu Christe
Quo mihi crude dolor tantum dominare
Duo Seraphim
O Magnum Mysterium
Jacob Gallus (1550-1591) was also known as Handl. He was Slovenian, but worked for most of his life in Austria. His output was enormous, including much complex multichoir music. Ann Marshall has selected four of his more straightforward double choir pieces, but there is still a lot going on in this music, in terms of harmony and interplay between the choirs.
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Four Watercolours of a Country Church (DTrTB/DTrTB)
MHE 30809 £14.50
The Church at Sunrise
The Old Bell Tower
The Graveyard at Dusk
The Church Fête
These double choir pieces by Ann Marshall are musical impressions of watercolours of one of those quintessentially English churches which are hidden away in the depths of the countryside. On a practical note, it can be difficult to persuade recorder ensembles to move into double choir formation, and this suite works perfectly well as a normal DDTrTrTTBB ensemble.
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Lancashire Concertino (D solo, DTrTBGtBCtB)
MHE 11011 £16.00
Allegro
Andantino
Vivace
Ann Marshall wrote this concertino for Margaret Shearing. Margaret lives some miles north of Rochdale - an area in which Ann lived thirty years ago. It’s an interesting area, with a great deal of folk tradition and a rich industrial heritage, and with the moorlands always just on the doorstep. The moors can be bleak, but have a real grandeur about them. The movements of this concertino reflect, very indirectly, memories of this corner of England – memories of working mills, moorland walks and folk dancing respectively. The solo part is quite difficult, but the orchestral parts of this ten minute piece are quite straightforward, and a wide variety of ensembles will be able to play them.
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Sinfonietta (SnoDDTrTrTTBBGtBCtB)
MHE 10508 £17.00
Vivace
Moderato
Minuet & Trio
Rondo
The many people who enjoy Ann Marshall's tuneful music will be eager to try this 4-movement Sinfonietta. The piece may currently occupy a category all of its own, as it is a substantial piece for orchestra which is nevertheless easy to play - it is well within the capabilities of a group such as an SRP branch. Both players and audience will warm to its sunny disposition, presented within the familiar framework of a traditional symphony.
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The Hoddesdon Suite (Spinet DTrTBGtBCtB)
MHE 11116 £18.50
Allegro
Andante
Allegro-Moderato-Allegro
By 2016 I had been involved in several performances featuring recorder ensembles together with the spinet playing of Rosemary Robinson, including Rosemary’s own marvellous Divertimento. I was inspired by the gorgeous sound of spinet and recorders, and wrote my three-movement Hoddesdon Suite for a performance at the Autumn Recorder Orchestra Weekend held in November 2016 in Hoddesdon, near Hertford. The soloist, naturally enough, was Rosemary, and my suite is dedicated to her. The orchestral parts of this eleven-minute piece are of no more than moderate difficulty.
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