North Sea Sketches (2009)
recorder ensemble / orchestra
9 mins : Descant, Trebles 1 and 2, Tenor, Bass, with optional Sopranino, Great Bass, and Contrabass.
Commissioned by the Society of Recorder Payers and first performed at the 2010 National Festival in Felixstowe, Suffolk by an orchestra of 200. Felixstowe is one of the largest North Sea ports, with a long naval history. North Sea Sketches celebrates this link, and it is an arrangement of a selection of traditional songs and dances related to the sea. The three movements are:
1. ‘In Harbour’: based on three country dances, The Boatman, Chelsea Reach, and Steamboat Quickstep
2. ‘Lament’ based on the folksong All Things are Quite Silent, in which a young woman remembers her husband press-ganged into the Navy
3. ‘Ocean Waves’ based on Bold Nelson’s Praise, Bay of Biscay, Spanish Ladies, and What shall we do with the drunken sailor?
PEACOCK PRESS
Audio recording on SoundCloud here: played by the National Youth Recorder Orchestra, director Colin Touchin – complete CD (National Youth Recorder Orchestras Course 2010) available from NYRO shop
Live video recording of Lament
Live video recording of Ocean Waves
Both played by Hampshire Recorder Sinfonia, director Helen Hooker