Three Duet Sets (Mostly from the British Isles) for soprano & alto recorders

from: Various Composers

The first set is arrangements mostly from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book: “La Volta” by William Byrd; an anonymous unnamed work that contains an early example of an augmented sixth chord; “Pawles Wharfe” and “His Humour”, both by Giles Farnaby; and “Volte” by Michael Praetorius, a different treatment of the same basic material as Byrd’s “La Volta”. The second set is from Scotland: three numbers from the collection Calliope (1739), “The Mutual Kiss”, “The Bush aboon Traquair for the German Flute”, and “Scots Sang: ‘Sweet Annie fra the Sea Beach came’”; followed by “Loch Lomond.” And the third set is English: three from the Playford Country Dances, “The Mansell”, “New Year’s Eve”, and “The Lord Monk’s March”, followed by the famous Rondeau, or Round-O by Henry Purcell that Benjamin Britten used as his theme for The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra of 1946. It should be noted that the 1st three Scotch tunes are also available in arrangements for soprano recorder and keyboard in the “Pieces for Solo Recorder and Keyboard” section (under “Various Composers”). Minor revision 12.7.14.