Output details

Gordon Jacob: Chamber Music with Recorder. CD recording: Annabel Knight (recorder); Robin Bigwood (hpchd. and piano); Maggini Quartet; Fontanella

The music on this disc is largely from of the Dolmetsch archive, an historically important body of music written for the recorder virtuoso Carl Dolmetsch between 1939 and 1989. Dolmetsch almost single-handedly created a modern repertory for the recently rediscovered historic recorder, including many high-quality solo and ensemble pieces by British twentieth-century composers, including Gordon Jacob. Much of this repertory became neglected and disregarded towards the end of the century in response to post-war musical developments and the avant-garde movement of the 1960s.

The present recording aims to encourage re-evaluation of the recorder music of Jacob, offering several pieces in world première recordings. These are the Suite for recorder and strings, recorded for the first time here in its original form with string quartet; the Sonata for recorder and piano; and the quartet ‘Trifles’ for recorder, violin, cello and harpsichord.

In the preparation for this recording, original manuscript scores were closely consulted for nearly all the works, many of which were annotated copies containing Dolmetsch’s own markings. The recording aimed to be faithful for the most part to these copies rather than the later published versions, particularly in the Suite for recorder and strings and the Variations for recorder and harpsichord/piano, both of which contained a number of significant variant readings. Scores and related archive correspondence between Jacob and Dolmetsch were discussed with specialist Dr Andrew Mayes (Conservatoire PhD graduate on Dolmetsch). Dr Mayes also wrote the liner notes for the disc and prepared playing scores for the previously unpublished ‘Consort of Recorders’.

Music from this recording, as well as other neglected works from the Dolmetsch archive, were performed at the Conservatoire at a celebratory weekend held for Carl Dolmetsch’s 100th anniversary in October 2011. Parts of the CD have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.