Six Recorders

6 SAATTB/Gb. A sextet arrangement of the piece for recorder orchestra - the result of a collaboration with the artist Judith Railton: Judith shot four short videos, and I composed music to 'fit with' them.

6 SATTBB. These little pieces are sketches of typical scenes throughout the year. The notes are not difficult (except for a few bars in 'Autumn'), but some work will be needed to find the right mood in each piece. The tenor 2 and bass 2 parts may be played an octave lower, on great bass and contrabass respectively. 'Winter' is the same as the low setting of Anthem: Praise The Lord.

6 SSATTB. Possibly the first time this strangely-titled, but beautiful madrigal has been transcribed for recorders. Quite easy. Also available a 5th lower for AATBBGb

6 AATBBGb. Possibly the first time this strangely-titled, but beautiful madrigal has been transcribed for recorders. Quite easy.

6 SAATTB. This suite was written after Steve was asked to write something about bike riding along wintry lanes, including feelings of cold, speed and danger. He thought back to specific places on the Wirral where he cycled as a child in the wintertime, and tried to reflect some of that in music. This is all a pretty specific programme for six recorders, but nothing ventured, nothing gained! Moderately tricky in places.

6 SoSATTB. This reflective piece is based on a tiny A-C-G motif which sets the words "Praise The Lord". The anthem is only short, but the motif is heard over 20 times in various parts. Easy, although the sopranino will have to work a little to phrase smoothly a melody which includes some wide leaps.

6 SATBGbCb. This reflective piece is based on a tiny A-C-G motif which sets the words "Praise The Lord". The anthem is only short, but the motif is heard over 20 times in various parts. Easy, although the sopranino will have to work a little to phrase smoothly a melody which includes some wide leaps.

6 SATTBB. A chaconne with a wistful feel. Not a difficult piece. Also works well if one tenor part and one bass part are played an octave lower on great bass and contrabass.

6 SATBGbCb. Steve wrote this for the closing massed playing session of the 2008 Cheltenham Recorder Festival, where it was conducted by Pam Smith. Although he says so himself the piece is quite cunningly written, in that almost the entire nine minutes is based on the first two bars. Those bars may come back at different speeds, in different keys or with different articulations, but they are never far away. You have to wait until bar 150 for some genuinely new melodic material. The result (he hopes) is that the whole piece feels like a unit, even though it goes through several moods. This piece is quite resilient - it would work well one-to-a-part, with a small or large orchestra, or with a hundred people (as it was done, very impressively, at the Cheltenham Recorder Festival).

6 TBGbGbCbCb. Totally Tropical is a suite of three pieces written for the Plymouth-based group Incerti. This group makes much use of bigger recorders, hence the unusual instrumentation. Why 'tropical'? While writing it Steve had pictures in his mind of desert islands, jungles, beach parties and the like. There are some mellow passages, but also passages with sprightly syncopated rhythms which will need good big bass players to pull off.

6 SATTTBB. Totally Tropical is a suite of three pieces written for the Plymouth-based group Incerti. This group makes much use of bigger recorders, hence the unusual instrumentation. Why 'tropical'? While writing it Steve had pictures in his mind of desert islands, jungles, beach parties and the like. There are some mellow passages, but also passages with sprightly syncopated rhythms which will need good big bass players to pull off.

6 SATTBB/Cb. Moderately difficult but interesting and varied music. The second bass part works very well on a contrabass, if available.