Drora Bruck’s Blog

I know this heading for a blog entry seems a little fancy, and maybe somewhat  pretentious…but coming home after teaching quite a few hours everyday, to different people, in different manners, I remain, still and always in awe, when i see the impact good music has on people.

Being a recorder teacher and player I have the chance to work with very young children at a very basic stage. Usually I get this fantastic opportunity to make, with them, their first steps in this fascinating world, walking hand in hand with them on this new road leading to infinity.

We live in a strange world today – in which everything comes fast and goes away fast. Our food cooks within seconds, we get to places kilometers away from our house in a very short time (ok, not at rush hour), we move from one activity to the other in no time, we drown in information that is thrown at us from every direction…and life is becoming quick and in a way worthless..since everything comes and goes.  And if everything is of such short value – maybe us too?

So, when we teach music, we allow little children to meet a world which has it’s own time – because music is an art form which relys upon time, needs time, is coherent only if you listen and allow the piece to unfold infront of you…one cannot hasten music – one cannot look quickly at the last page to know what was the conclusion…music is not about the ending – music is about the process…

I find myself playing for these internet oriented children, little people who were born into this world of instanity – or, if I may, insanity – and I see how every muscle in their body relaxes, how their eyes are fixed upon me, and their ears seek the next sound…

I cannot help feeling that music, and complex music, the one that operates the senses, the passions and the brain, reunites us, reunites them with what this fast world makes us yearn for – stability, solidity, lastingness, balance…

so, studying music is crucial for our inner need of feeling that something out there is worth waiting for – and giving time to – and if there is, maybe it is us?

It had been a long time since I had the chance to listen to a weekload of lessons by a great musician, to multi leveled young aspiring musicians. Roberto arrived in Israel on Dec. 28th and had spent a week in the Israeli conservatory of Music, Tel Aviv.

46 lessons to singers, wind players, string players, harpsichordists…and for me it was an opportunity to catch up on teaching methods, realize what I have neglected in my own teaching routine, stimulate myself to re-reading materials i have known so well in the past, and reclaim myself.

What does reclaiming myself mean in this context?

We do have the tendency to enter routines…there is something comforting about those…we go in paths we know can work, we walk on safe roads, we do what we have succeeded in so many times before…but, if  I may, it is like a physical thing, we operate, always, the same muscles, the same movements, and get used to that…

reclaiming myself means that I could see my work through someone else’s eyes, and realize what parts I should retrain…

So, here I am now – after these weeks of increased input – deciding to leave one of my jobs, the one which is more time consuming and less relevant to my own progress, self development or specific professional needs, and allow myself some time to practice, read, filling up the batteries.

So, thank you Roberto, for many many things (and those of you following my blog know that i already wrote about him in the past as one of the most influential musicians in my life), and for this period in which you have put a mirror infront of me, reminding me who I CAN be.

Recorder players do have some issues with Bach…all thi smagnificent musi – and where are the recorder sonatas? suites?

So, before I go into listing which transcribed pieces sound good on the recorder – I searched Bac’s repertoire to find where he actually ask for recorders:

In the Magnificat, in it’s first version from 1723, there are 2 alto recorders in the movement called: ESURIENTES IMPLEVIT BONIS – accompanyng an alto singer together, above a continuo in organ.

Amsterdam Baroque orchestra – 2:17 starts the Esurientes

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Bach often associates the recorder with death and the un ncatural…as in cantata 106 :

Here by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra directed by Ton Koopman:

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In cantata 161 in the aria “Komm Du Susse Todesstunde” (Come thou sweet death’s hour)
We can hear the singer accompanied by the 2 recorders to his death:
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Simon Crouch wrote the following:
The theme of death being a welcome release from the travails of this earth is a common one in the cantatas and this solo work for alto is a lovely example of Bach illustrating this with style and with beauty.

The gentle theme of the opening aria is introduced by a pair of recorders (which will feature frequently later on) and is soon taken up by the alto. A notable feature of this movement is that from time to time the organ enters playing the melody of the Passion Chorale (Herzlich tut mich verlangen, by Hassler) in the treble, almost as a decoration of the main theme. What’s it doing here? Well, the words of that hymn are a prayer of peaceful departure that complement the words of this aria perfectly. The congregation of Bach’s time would have known that hymn well and would have immediately realised the significance of the tune. Following a heartfelt recitative, the next aria is possibly more notable for its grief stricken accompaniment (on the strings) than for the alto melody, it maintains the affekt effectively.

Only occasionally do I comment much on Bach’s recitatives. They are almost invariably skilful, perhaps routine once in a while, but next we have a fine example, where the music so wonderfully complements the message. For example, the soul sinking to rest to a descending scale, the ticking of clock to the words strike the hour when I may rest in peace. It may sound corny described in words, but it’s done so skilfully and tastefully! The following chorus is a lovely, delicate filigree of a thing with the recorders providing the final twist of decoration. Please, never let sopranos with wobbly voices near this one. Please. The tune of Hassler’s hymn returns for the final chorale. The recorders perform their final dance up in the clouds. Are they the soul, perhaps?

There are few better examples of Bach’s craft and inspiration working hand in hand. Although this cantata doesn’t leap out and grab you immediately, if you listen carefully to it and study it, you will have a thing of beauty for ever.

Copyright © Simon Crouch, 1996, 1997

Then there are scenes like in cantata 208, maybe one of the most famous arias which include recorders, in which the sheep may safely graze…

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The Brandenburg concertos are without a doubt some of the grandest concertos in their genere (concerto grosso).

Out of the 6 concertos, recorder is featured in 2:

the second concerto groups in the ‘concertino’ group 4 instruments: recorder, oboe, trumpet and violin.

Listen to the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

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Title on autograph score: Concerto 2^do à 1 Tromba, 1 Fiauto, 1 Hautbois, 1 Violino concertati, è 2 Violini, 1 Viola è Violone in Ripieno col Violoncello è Basso per il Cembalo.^[1]

1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Allegro assai

Concertino: trumpet in F, recorder, oboe, violin

Ripieno: two violins, viola, violone, and basso continuo (including harpsichord).

This piece was almost certainly written with the court trumpeter in Cöthen, Johann Ludwig Schreiber, in mind.^[6] The trumpet part is still considered one of the most difficult in the entire repertoire, played on either the natural or the modern valved trumpet.

The trumpet does not play in the second movement, as is common practice in baroque era concerti due to the construction of the natural trumpet, which allows it to play only in one key. Because concerti often move to a different key in the second movement, concerti that include a trumpet in their first movement and are from the period before the valved trumpet was commonly used, exclude the trumpet from the second movement.

This piece was also chosen as the first to be played on the “golden record”, a phonograph record containing a broad sample of Earth’s common sounds, languages, and music sent into outer space with the two Voyager probes.

In the 4th Brandenburg the main soloist is the violin, accompanied by 2 alto recorders in the concertino group and the entire orchestra.

Here listen to the Freiburg orchestra:

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Title on autograph score: Concerto 4^ta à Violino Principale, due Fiauti d’Echo, due Violini, una Viola è Violone in Ripieno, Violoncello è Continuo.^[1]

1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Presto

Concertino: violin and two recorders

Ripieno: two violins, viola, cello, violone and basso continuo

The violin part in this concerto is extremely virtuosic in the first and third movements. In the second movement, the violin provides a bass when the concertino group plays unaccompanied.

Bach adapted the 4th Brandenburg concerto as the last of his set of 6 harpsichord concertos, the concerto for harpsichord, two recorders and strings in F major, BWV 1057. As well as taking on most of the solo violin’s role, the harpsichord also takes over some of the recorders’ parts in the andante, plays a basso continuo role at times and occasionally adds a fourth contrapuntal part to an originally three-part texture (something which Bach occasionally did while improvising). The harpsichord concerto is thus more than a mere transcription.

Here is it’s first movement performed by the English concert, conducted by Trevor Pinnock. Recorder players are not specified, but I am quite sure one of them is Philip Pickett:

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Telemann

George Philip Telemann is well known to recorder players, as he added so much wonderful music to their repertoire. Some claim that his music is simple, yet it is important to realize that having composed so much, some of his music was intended to be performed by amateurs, while other pieces are compositional masterpieces.

G.P. was born in Magdeburg in 1681.
Read about his life.
More information about his life.
Browse through important dates in his life
“Telemann, a forgotten master” was published in 1915. A fantastic article.

Telemann’s recorder music supplys some of the most beautiful repertoire to recorder players. The recorder sonatas, Vier Sonaten fur Blockflote und Basso continuo – Four Sonatas for Treble Recorder and Basso continuo

Vier Sonaten fur Blockflote und Basso continuo – Four Sonatas for Treble Recorder and Basso continuo Sonaten F-dur TWV 41:F2, B-dur TWV 41:B3, f-moll TWV 41:f1, C-dur TWV 41:C2 – Sonatas in F major TWV 41:F2, in B-flat major TWV 41:B3, in F minor TWV 41:f1, in C major TWV 41:C2. By Georg Philipp Telemann. Edited by Degen, Dietz. For Alto recorder (f,g), Basso continuo. Hortus Musicus. Playing Score; Single Part (paperbound). Published by Hortus Musicus (German import). (HM6) See more info…

are certainly a fine addition to the repertoire. The First in this collection, the Recorder Sonata 1, F Major

Is of the composer’s most known, but not most beautiful. It is excellent for young students who start performing Baroque sonatas. The Recorder Sonata 3, F Minor

is something completely different, with it’s very special first movement, Triste, in which the recorder laments over a bass line filled with chromaticism. An absolute jewel. The Recorder Sonata, C Major

Is a great piece – the first movement moves from an opening short adagio into a virtuosic allegro which requires high technical abilities from the player. You are welcome to listen to Drora Bruck’s performance of this movement here. The Recorder Sonata, D Minor

Is special in the entire recorder repertoire. It is constructed as a small opera, rec. aria, rec. aria – which a very strange first movement, where the recorder enters on the strongest dissonance, and is asked to play with dynamics, repeating notes in F, P, PP, which is most unusual at that time, and not to easy to produce on the recorder. There isn’t much Baroque repertoire for the soprano recorder, and the 6 partitas for soprano recorder and B.C. and the 6 partitas from the “Little Chamber Music” collection is a welcome addition.

Georg Philipp Telemann: Little Chamber Music – Six Partitas For Violin And Basso Continuo Composed by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), edited by Waldemar Woehl. For violin (oboe, flute, or recorder can be substituted), keyboard and basso continuo. Format: set of performance parts (includes separate pull out violin & continuo parts). With solo part, basso continuo part, keyboard realization and introductory text. Baroque. 88 pages. 9×12 inches. Published by Hortus Musicus (German import). (BA.HM47) See more info…

Originally composed for the German Flute Sonate Metodiche, 1728/32

are published here for the recorder. This is a ‘crash course’ in ornamenting, as GP added his set of ornaments to all the slow movements. The 12 Fantasies (c. 1728)

are each a pearl. It is not easy to compose solo pieces for a melodic instruments which are both beautiful and interesting. GP excels in all aspects. The following are called concertos yet are composed for cembalo obbligato and recorder : Alto Recorder Concerto, D Minor

Alto Recorder Concerto, C Major

Konzert c-moll fur Blockflote und konzertierendes Cembalo

Telemann composed what seems to be an endless number of chamber pieces. Trio sonatas for two recorders and b.c. Sonata, F Major, 2 Recorders/Hpschd

Trio Sonata in A minor for 2 Treble Recorders and Basso continuo

Trio sonatas for recorder, oboe and b.c. Trio Sonata from Essercizii Musici -

Trio Sonata, A Minor, Al Recorder/Ob/Bc

Triosonatas for recorder, violin and b.c. Trio, G Minor, Recorder/Violin/Bc

Sonata a 3 in D Minor

Trio in D Minor – score with parts

Trio Sonata in A Minor – score with parts

Trio Sonata in F Major – score with parts

Triosonate in A Minor – score with parts – for recorder, violin, B.C.

recorder duets: Six Duos, 1752 (bolder & more original than Op. 2 works)

Sonatas which are compositional gems : Sonatas In Canon, 6, 2 Alto Recorder

The Berlin Duos (25 pages w/ commentary)

are a nice addition to the recorder repertoire. These 4 late duos are semi classical in style, and grant a great challenge to the performers. Quartets: One of my favorite pieces is without a doubt : Quartet in D minor for two Flutes, Recorder (Bassoon, Violoncello), Violoncello and Basso continuo

Quartett d-Moll fur zwei Querfloten, Blockflote (Fagott, Violoncello), Violoncello und Basso continuo – Quartet in D minor for two Flutes, Recorder (Bassoon, Violoncello), Violoncello and Basso continuo “Tafelmusik II”. By Georg Philipp Telemann. Edited by Johann P. Hinnenthal. For Flute (2), Alto recorder (f,g)/ Bassoon/ Violoncello, Basso continuo. Score; Set of Parts; Urtext Edition. TWV 43:d 1. Published by Baerenreiter-Ausgaben (German import). (BA3539) See more info…

Here, Telemann joins the flutes with a recorder to what ay seem as a recorder concerto. Wonderful music to listen to, great pleasure and satisfaction to perform. Quadro in G Minor – score with parts

Quartet in F Major – score with parts

Orchestral Pieces : The a minor suite for recorder and string orchestra is a fine 7 movement piece which is a showcase of dances of many nations (French, Italian, Polish) and allows the recorde rplayer to show virtuosity and lyricism. Suite in A Minor

Or this edition:

The F Major concerto for recorder and orchestra is again, a beautiful piece with a fantastically difficult 2nd movement which you can listen to here: Concerto for Treble Recorder, Strings and Basso continuo

This beautiful Double Concerto for Recorder and Flute in E minor

Is a very special piece. It is the only concerto for two such solo instruments, each showing it’s varied possibilities. The third movement here asks the strings to accompany the soloists in pizzicato, which creates a very special effect. The last movement, constructed as a rondo employs a somewhat simple dance tune with a lot of power. More pieces: Double Concerto for Two Recorders in B-flat (Hoffmann) – full score

Concerto in D Minor – score with parts

Concerto a 4 in A Minor – score with parts

This concerto is a beautiful piece hardly performed: Concerto di Camera – score with parts

Suite in F Major for recorder quartet

Double Concerto for Recorder and Bassoon in F

Concerto in A Minor – score with parts

Overture in C major – Water Music – Hamburger Ebb und Fluth table width=”100%” border=”0″ cellspacing=”4″ cellpadding=”0″> Ouverture C-dur – Wassermusik – Hamburger Ebb und Fluth – Overture in C major – Water Music – Hamburger Ebb und Fluth By Georg Philipp Telemann. Edited by Friedrich Noack. For Alto recorder (f,g) (2), Flute 1, Flute 2/ Piccolo, Oboe (2), Bassoon. Wind Parts. Published by Baerenreiter-Ausgaben (German import). (BA2983 65)
See more info… Concerto a 6

Concerto in F for recorder quartet

Sinfonia F Major – score

Listen to the Triosonate in B Flat Major : here

GP composed a great number of cantatas, in which the recorder plays an important part. These are only a few of his pieces: Gesegnet ist die Zuversicht

Die Hirten bei der Krippe

Ich danke dem Herrn

Lauter Wonne, lauter Freude

Matthaus-Passion (1746)

Sechs Arien aus “Harmon. Gottesdienst”

Tirsis am Scheidewege

Zerrei! das Herz

יוהן סבסטיאן באך הוא מהמלחינים שאין צורך להציג : הוא נחשב, ובצדק, לגדול המלחינים בעולם המערבי ולמוסיקאים רבים מספיקה עצם שמיעת שמו על מנת שנשימתם תעתק והם יהנהנו ביראת כבוד…

מלבד היותו של באך מלחין מצוין הבקיא ברזי הכתיבה ובעל יכולת עצומה, היה אדם אדוק מאד, וכל המוסיקה הדתית שלו הינה כתהליך של הזדככות דתית. באך היה אדם מאד פרקטי ותמיד תזמר את המוסיקה שלו על פי הכוחות שעמדו לרשותו – כמנהג רוב המלחינים מאז ומעולם. עד 1726 (בשהותו בלייפציג), שילב חליליות ביצירותיו, בתפקידים שאינם פשוטים כלל ועיקר, ואשר מעמידים דרישות וירטואוזיות לנגנים. מעניין לבחון את הקונטקסט בו משתמש באך בחלילית – הן מבחינת תוכנה של יצירה ( טקסטואלית ) והן מבחינת הקונטקסט התזמורי – שאין הוא אלא הצבע בו באך משתמש – ובו הוא צובע את הטקסט ויוצר את האווירה.

אקטוס טרגיקוס – קנטטה העוסקת באבל, בעלייה לגן עדן ובהזדככות דתית…הרכות של החליליות והויולות דה גמבה, בסונטינה של הפתיחה – מכניסה אותנו מייד לאווירה חמה ואינטימית כאשר הגמבות והקונטינואו מספקים בסיס לחליליות המנגנות רוב הזמן באוניסונו, ומספרות את סיפור הפתיחה של הקנטטה. המלודיות הכתובות עבור החליליות הינן רפלקטיביות, סובבות סביב עצמן, מהרהרות, מתחננות, כמבקשות לסמן את הדרך עבורן הן… באך משלב בקנטטה זו צורות שונות…סונטינה, מוטט, קונצ’רטינו וציטוטים מקורל

זוהי יצירת פאר, מלאכת מחשבת קומפוזיטורית מלאה משמעות דתית
נגנית תמיד מצאתי עצמי נהנית מהתפקיד המעמיד שאלות ביצוע רבות ומאתגר ובאותו הזמן רווי יופי והדר.

מהיצירות החשובות והנהדרות שהולחנו עבור חליליות, לדעתי.

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בדרך כלל לא הייתי מכניסה ביצוע לפסנתר – אבל

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והנה ביצוע שהוא האהוב עלי מכולם – תזמורת הבארוק של אמשטרדם:
טון קופמן (ומריון ורברוכן)

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וההמשך:

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ועוד:

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This is going to be afirst post in English, since I somwhat feel this subject has much more readers in English that in Hebrew…I come back home almost daily after teaching in various levels..and \i have so many ideas and thoughts running through my head, ex. that have worked…conclusions about pieces, about music, about life…so maybe it is about time I sat, every few evenings, and spent time writing abou twhat I had encountered?

and so I will.

But now it is late…and although some people are out there celebrating the fact Israle had reached the mature age of 61, others, like yours truly, prefer to elebrate this festive fact, by sitting on the sofa with her cat, and writing dome daily insights…

so, as warned, this was a short one tonight.
\ I promise to make this blog an information hub for all interested in the recorder…links, ads, recommendations…you name it, i shall try to write it…

so, good night for now, and love to all you 10000s of readers…