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Carl Dolmetsch can be considered to have single-handedly created a modern recorder repertory. He commissioned over 90 works from leading composers of the mid-twentieth century, including Lennox Berkeley, Gordon Jacob, Edmund Rubbra, Hans Gal, Cyril Scott, York Bowen and Michael Berkeley to name just a few. A large number of these works are fo
r recorder and piano/harpsichord, written for Dolmetsch and Joseph Saxby, but there are also many pieces for recorder with different chamber music combinations including string trio and quartet, other wind instruments, and singers. Many of these pieces were premiered in a remarkable series of annual concerts which took place between 1939 and 1989 at the Wigmore Hall, but have since been relegated to the archive.
Sadly, today, only a small handful of these pieces are known widely and in general circulation: a change in direction amongst recorder players since the 1970s resulted in a general preference for the ‘avant-garde’ school developed across the channelin the Netherlands and Germany. However, the tide has finally started to change and there is now a growing worldwide resurgence of interest in this body of music amongst professional recorder artists. The Carl Dolmetsch Centenary Weekend aims to raise the profile and awareness of both Dolmetsch’s achievement and the importance of re-assessing the music of this legacy. Moreover, taking Carl’s cue, the event includes a concert dedicated to recent commissions of British recorder music, as well as the premiere of a new work for children, demonstrating the need to continue to develop British recorder music in our own time.
Carl Dolmetsch Centenary Weekend overview
Professional Recitals by Dan Laurin & Anna Paradiso-Laurin, Jill Kemp & Aleksander Szram, Annabel Knight, Robin Bigwood & members of the Maggini Quartet, Ross Winters and Christopher Orton
Illustrated lecture on the Dolmetsch family given by Carl’s daughter, Jeanne Dolmetsch
Talk on the Dolmetsch music archive by Dr Andrew Mayes, author of Carl Dolmetsch and the Recorder Repertory of the Twentieth Century (pub Ashgate/Peacock Press)
Performances celebrating new British recorder music, by Birmingham Society of Recorder Players, Birmingham Schools’ Recorder Sinfonia and local school children, and students from the Birmingham Conservatoire
Focus on Rubbra: A concert and discussion of all Edmund Rubbra’s key recorder works, with Ian Wilson and students from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama
‘Recorder Futures’ concert featuring new music by Edward Gregson, Tim Coker, Alan Bush, David Bedford and George King performed by Christopher Orton, Annabel Knight, Ross Winters and Jill Kemp
Discussions on the significance of the Dolmetsch archive and its legacy for future British recorder music
Instrument and music retailers in residence including The Early Music Shop, Recorder Mail and Tim Cranmore