by Rosemary Robinson
ROSEMARY ROBINSON Little Suite for Recorder Quintet (DTrTTB)
MHE 10321 £11.50
Prelude 
Tambourin
Sarabande
Jig
Little Suite won second prize in the Composers’ Competition 2020. That competition was for music suitable for branches of the Society of Recorder Players. The five-minute suite consists of four short movements whose order (slow, fast, slow, fast) is inspired by the Baroque dance suite, though the musical idiom is tonal twentieth-century with an English flavour.
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by Ann
Ann's Choice: Volume 12 (TrTrTB Quartets Book 1) (TrTrTB)
MHE 10421 £9.00
Sleep Now, My Muse (Kirbye)
Farewell, my love (Kirbye)
When Cloris Heard (Wilbye)
Three Fooles (Bennet)
There is not much music for adults that is both interesting and easy. All too often music that is easy is also a bit childish. I hope that the series 'Ann's Choice' will help to fill the gap. Volume 12 comprises arrangements of four madrigals. What they have in common is that they were written in the late 1500s or early 1600s, and their composers contributed to the famous set of madrigals ‘The Triumphs of Oriana’. I also wanted to give some visibility of the work of George Kirbye – I like his madrigals, but they are not much played, perhaps because they tend to be rather serious in tone. I hope you enjoy playing these pieces!
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by Ann
All Day Long (Tr)
MHE 10521 £6.00
Dawn of a new day
Daytime is long and pleasing
Evening becomes night
All Day Long is a set of unaccompanied pieces for solo recorder. The pieces evoke the beginning, middle and end of
a day. Total playing time is about five minutes. Also available are versions for tenor and bass recorder.
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by Ann
All Day Long (T)
MHE 10521a £6.00
The version of 'All Day Long' for tenor. Other versions are available for treble and bass.
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by Ann
All Day Long (B)
MHE 10521b £6.00
The version of 'All Day Long' for bass. Other versions are available for treble and tenor.
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by Steve
Fantasy No 14 In 5 Parts (TrTrTTB)
MHE 10621 £6.50
My Fantasy No 14 shares some similarities to the others in this series, particularly that there are some musical ideas that are passed around the parts. But in other respects, it is rather different from the fantasies that I have written so far - the pulse is slow throughout and apart from a brief climax when the end is nearly in sight, the music is quiet, perhaps even austere. Also, the music involves considerable dissonance for extended periods. The notes and rhythms in this six-minute piece are straightforward, but difficulties may arise in breath control and tuning.
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by Ann
Power of Dream (T)
MHE 10821 £5.50
‘Extended techniques’ are ways of playing the recorder that are different from the ways used decades ago. One example (among many) is playing the recorder and singing simultaneously. These techniques can make music more interesting, more fun and even more beautiful. Unfortunately music using extended techniques is often difficult to play (even virtuosic). That puts the music out of the reach of the majority of recorder players, which is a pity. I therefore wrote ‘Power of Dream’ as a reasonably straightforward way into making music using extended techniques. The four techniques used are simultaneous playing and singing , shading the windway, foot stamping and fluttertongue. The style of music may be unfamiliar, but if you take some time to work on it, the result will be a five-minute dream-like piece, where there is always something interesting going on. Interesting for the player, and interesting for listeners as well. Note that because of the nature of this piece, the sound file is particularly distant from a human performance.
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by Ann
Deep in the Forest (DTrTB)
MHE 11021 £9.50
Up high, in the trees
A calming wind blows through the trees
A rainy day in the woods
A summer's day in the forest
This set of pieces tries to conjure up the different moods of a forest. Given that I live on the edge of the Forest of Dean, and often walk there, it’s tempting to think that the pieces were inspired by specific places I know. That wasn’t my intention, but maybe it’s true! The music is moderately easy, but there are some passages that may need work. Total playing time is about seven minutes.
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by Ann
Ann's Choice: Volume 13 Equal Trios (TrTrTr)
MHE 20421 £8.00
Quel Tristarel d'Amore (Bellasio)
Pleni Sunt Coeli (Palestrina)
Christe Eleison (Victoria)
Cancionero de Palacio No 131 (Anon)
How Merrily We Live
There is not much music for adults that is both interesting and easy. All too often music that is easy is also a bit childish. I hope that the series 'Ann's Choice' will help to fill the gap. Volume 13 comprises arrangements of music in three equal parts. I enjoy playing such music – it is fascinating to hear how composers manage to create interest with so few available notes. As always with ‘Ann’s Choice’, I have chosen music that is straightforward, but interesting. I have avoided canons, of which there are many written for equal instruments. Although the five pieces are broadly ‘Renaissance’, they are
quite a mixture of work by well-known and less-known composers. Versions are also available for tenors and basses.
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by Ann
Ann's Choice: Volume 13 Equal Trios (TTT)
MHE 20421a £8.00
The version for tenors. Other versions are available for trebles and basses.
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by Ann
Ann's Choice: Volume 13 Equal Trios (BBB)
MHE 20421b £8.00
The version for basses. Other versions are available for trebles and tenors.
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by Ann
Arcalia (TrTrTTBB)
MHE 20521 £12.50
I
II
III
I wrote Arcalia for a recorder course – the Autumn Recorder Course, or ARC to its friends. The title of the suite springs from that abbreviation (it was only later that I found out about the village in Romania!) The suite is in three contrasting movements, and is of moderate difficulty. Total playing time is about seven minutes.
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by Ann
Miniature Suite No 1 (TrTrTB)
MHE 21021 £10.00
Allegro
Largo
Dance
Allegro
This suite is of moderate difficulty. The notes rarely cause problems, but the rhythms and articulations can. The music can be played by larger ensembles, but one-to-a-part brings out the best in it (if played accurately of course!). Total playing time is about five minutes.
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by Steve
Fortuna Desperata (Busnois/Agricola) (DTrTrTBB)
MHE 30421 £8.00
Unison melody
Three-part chanson (Busnois)
Six-part version (Agricola)
My arrangement of 'Fortuna Desperata' is not a ‘scholarly edition’. My objective was to allow recorder groups to dip their toes in the water of medieval music, using modern notation. The music allows players (and their audiences) to ease themselves into what might be an unfamiliar musical world. Everyone begins with the tune, followed by the easy-on-the-ear original of Busnois, culminating in the Agricola arrangement which is liberally sprinkled with surprising notes.
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by Steve
Tea for Two (DTrTTBGtBCtB)
MHE 30521 £7.50
The music for the famous song ‘Tea for Two’ was composed in 1924 by Vincent Youmans (1898-1946). My own favourite arrangement is by Dmitri Shostakovich, who wrote it in only 45 minutes, for a bet! My own version tries to retain the quirky fun of Mr Shostakovich, while featuring a lot of jazzy chords. It’s no more than moderately difficult.
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by Ann
Miniature Suite No 2 (TrTrTB)
MHE 31021 £6.50
I
II
III
I was challenged to write a piece of music where the entire score would fit on four sides of paper, while still being legible as a playing score. I then decided to attempt the further challenge of writing a set of pieces. The resulting Miniature Suite comprises more than three minutes of moderately difficult music for recorder quartet.
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by Ann
Five Ayres from the Baroque (TrTB)
MHE 31120 £8.00
Ayre No 1 (Almaine)
Ayre No 2 (Almaine)
Ayre No 3
Ayre No 4
Ayre No 5 (Echo)
These ayres were all written in the first half of the seventeenth century by English composers. With the notable exception of William Lawes, the composers are little-known today except, perhaps, to specialists in the area. A pity, because all of the music here is interesting to both players and listeners. Total playing time is about twelve minutes.
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by Ann
Sinfonietta No 2 (SnoDTrTrTTBBGtBSubCtB)
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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by Steve
Fantasy No 12 In 5 Parts (TrTrTTB)
MHE 40521 £8.50
I wrote my Fantasy No 11 in 2013. After that I imagined that I had said all I was going to say as far as TrTrTTB fantasy-type pieces went. But then the pandemic happened, and I found that my compositional life changed in many unpredictable ways. One such way was an interest in revisiting unfinished business, and this fantasy - eight years after the previous one - was the result. My Fantasy No 12 demands fast and accurate playing in order to pull it off. There are no tricky rhythms and no very high notes, but to maintain concentration for its four minutes may be a bit of a challenge!
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by Ann
Musical Poems No 4: Dreaming (DTrTB)
MHE 41021 £9.00
Introduction
A strange little dream
Under each lid
Rivers and rocks
A land of flowers
And a cellar small
Fred woke too soon
My pieces ‘Musical Poems’ are an ongoing series of poems with musical interludes, sympathetic to the verse. These pieces have been well-received by audiences and players. Number 4 - ‘Dreaming’ - is a work by the poet
William Allingham (1824-1889), and I have provided seven musical interludes of straightforward but, I hope,
interesting music. A performance of words and music lasts about eight minutes.
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by Ann
Four Madrigals by Giovanni Artusi (TrTrTB)
MHE 41120 £7.00
Donna da tuoi
Clori Gentil Dicea
Tu Pensi Col
Vaghe Ninfe
Artusi (1540-1613) was an interesting, if minor character in the history of music. He took a very dim (and brave) view of the move towards baroque style, and in particular the work of Monteverdi. His work used considerable dissonance, even in relatively simple music such as the madrigals in this set. Total playing time is about six minutes.
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by Steve
Just a Minute 2021 (soloist, TBGtBCtB)
MHE 50421 £12.00
Hector's House
James and the Magic Chord
Phew
Billy's Bag
The Brow of the Hill
The Final Straw
In 2006 I wrote a set of pieces for Duo Ricercare - Andrew Collis (recorders) and Graham Roberts (guitar). The set was called ‘Just a Minute’ for the simple reason that each piece lasted precisely sixty seconds. I always liked ‘Just a Minute’ but, like any music featuring that difficult instrument the guitar, it never became well-known (or even slightly-known!). So I thought that I would re-invent it as a suite for recorder ensemble. In its new garb, with a soloist playing sopranino down to tenor, accompanied by an eight-foot ensemble, it is not easy but I hope ensembles will enjoy its quirky charms. The titles of the pieces are rather oblique references to composers of guitar music. As an example ‘Hector's House’ references Heitor Villa-Lobos, a celebrated Brazilian composer (as well as the children’s TV series of the late 1960s).
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by Steve
Fantasy No 13 In 5 Parts (TrTrTTB)
MHE 50521 £8.00
I wrote my Fantasy No 13 immediately after No 12. In fact, if you or your audience had enough appetite for Marshall Fantasies, I think that 13 and 12 (in that order) would make a nice contrasting pair. This fantasy begins with what seems to me to be a rather plaintive mood. After this idea has been worked around, the mood changes to something a little faster and quite funky. The opening idea returns, in unsettled combination with the funky idea but, in the end, the full plaintive mood is re-established. Playing time is about seven minutes.
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by Ann
The Dymock Diary (DTrTB)
MHE 51021 £8.50
Walking with the Poets
Memories of a canal long-gone
Walking the Daffodil Way
Morris Dancing at the Beauchamp Arms
Dymock is a village in Gloucestershire, where several poets were based between 1911 and 1914. These were the 'Dymock Poets‘, who included such major figures as Robert Frost and Rupert Brooke. Edward Thomas also visited. I live near to Dymock, and I wrote ‘The Dymock Diary’ influenced by places in the area. I chose the places so that the four pieces would provide musical variety. The suite is of easier-moderate difficulty, and the total playing time is about five minutes.
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by Rosemary Robinson
ROSEMARY ROBINSON Ashby Trio (DTrT)
MHE 60421 £12.50
Flourish
Summer Song
Madrigal
Aubade
Jig
Ashby Trio was written in the summer of 2020. The five movements are:(1) A vigorous 'Flourish' with a medieval flavour and constantly-changing time-signatures, (2) 'Summer Song' which, though written in 3/4, alternates between 3/4 and 6/8 throughout, (3) A rather syncopated 'Madrigal‘, (4) A Celtic-sounding and mysterious 'Aubade‘ and (5) A very Irish 'Jig'. Total playing time is about eight minutes.
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by Ann
Time for Dessert (DTrTB)
MHE 61021 £9.50
Playing the Gooseberry Fool
Trifling with Trifles
Chocolate Puddle Pudding Playtime
Crème Brulée - in a mellow way
Not-so-dumb-Rum Baba
These are five pieces that pay tribute to five of my favourite desserts, although it may not be too obvious how each delicious dessert is exactly related to the music! The (often jazzy) suite is of moderate difficulty, and the total playing time is about
eight minutes.
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