Rubbra: Meditazioni sopra Cœurs désolés op.67

Of the musical instruments brought back into use as a result of the early music revival in the 20th century, the renaissance of the recorder has perhaps been the most spectacular. Its use as a musical teaching aid in schools has not always endeared it to the general public or, indeed, the musical world, but it has gained a remarkable following. Jill Kemp is firmly establishing herself as one of the finest wind players of her generation.

Winner of numerous prizes, in April 2009 she gave her Carnegie Hall debut. In 2007 she won the Royal Over-Seas League Wind and Brass Competition, the first recorder player to do so in its 57-year history.

We can safely assume that the dramatist Henry Taylor was not thinking of the recorder when he penned these words in 1834. The instrument, once hugely popular, had long since fallen out of fashion, and was not to enjoy a revival for almost a century. It had, in any case, never been considered capable of expressing the extremes of musical light and shade.

It is arguably only in the 20th century that the recorder has found its true expressive voice.

The music on this album is a testimony to the shining brilliance and soulful emotion which can be coaxed from a simple pipe. Considering the huge upsurge of interest in the recorder in recent decades, it is remarkable that such high-quality music by English composers of stature has largely been neglected in favour of, on the one hand, indifferent baroque sonatas, and on the other tuneless avant-garde experiments.

Much of the music here would not exist without the pioneering work of the late Carl Dolmetsch, who commissioned over 50 new pieces for his annual Wigmore Hall recitals between 1939 and 1989. We have chosen five of the best works from this important collection, together with two others of similar merit, to produce a programme which places the recorder firmly in the musical mainstream.

All the works recorded on this CD have direct associations with recorder pioneer and virtuoso Carl Dolmetsch (1911 - 1997), mainly through his vigorous efforts to encourage the establishment of a contemporary repertoire for the instrument. On 1st February 1939, with Joseph Saxby at the harpsichord, Dolmetsch gave his first recorder rectial at London’s Wigmore Hall. This included the “Theme and Variations” in A minor for descant recorder and harpsichord, a new composition by Dolmetsch himself. He had been keen to include a new work for recorder, but the absence of a significant contemporary repertoire led him to set about the task of composition himself, as much as anything to create an example he hoped others would soon follow.