Pieces for Dorothy (Part 1)

OMP077 Donald Bousted, Pieces for Dorothy (Part 1).

Donald wrote these pieces between sleepless nights when his daughter Dorothy was a baby. Three further pieces (Part 2) were written four years later and are available separately.

They are around grade 3 - 5 AMEB with a moderate grade 5 level harpsichord part.

In the Garden opens with soprano and alto recorders weaving above the gently shifting modal harmonies of the harpsichord. There are some lovely flowing semiquaver passages for the recorders towards the end creating a great sonorous effect.

On Hay Bluff is a longer piece that opens with slow entwined melodies in the recorders rising and falling over a rippling harpsichord ostenato in the left hand. There are some ff dynamics that may not be achievable in reality but they can give the recorder players a guide to the intensity of sound required especially to the climactic ending on high Es!

I love the Big Hallelujah! Here again I hear Arvo Pärt's use of bells in his Tin tabulation piece but in a whole new context with recorders. (You will hear the bells) There are minimalist shifts in harmony as the harpsichords right hand beats constant quaver chords throughout the piece while the left hand plays a bass line. The recorders explore their whole range and through the Aeolian mode except for the last chord where a G# appears in a blaze of sunlight to end on a high dominant.

These are three delightful pieces. I can't wait to play part 2.

Bernard Wells, Cinnamon Sticks Vol 4, No2.