Cambridge Companion to the Recorder

by John Mansfield Thomson, Anthony Rowland-Jones (Editor)

This is the first book to offer a complete introduction to the recorder. Eight contributors from four different countries write on topics such as the recorder and its music through the centuries, the recorder as orchestral instrument, the professional recorder player through history and today, and the phenomenon of the recorder revival. The Companion also contains basic reference material previously unavailable in one volume. A special feature is the rich collection of illustrations that provide a history of the instrument. The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder will be of interest to performers and students as well as to music enthusiasts.

Genres: Music

264 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

Reviews

[Carol]

Another solid volume in this series, this time covering the recorder - there's a lot more to the instrument than we may have thought after our elementary school music classes. This book covers the recorder from its medieval origins to its sporadic but important appearances in contemporary music. I especially liked the material on the recorder in the middle ages and Renaissance - how the instrument developed, what music it played, and what occasions it was used for. I do wish that the section on the recorder in education had been a little more extensive, but that is a small quibble. The annotated bibliography at the end is extremely valuable for researchers and librarians.

[Allen Garvin]

Very good book discussing the history (using iconography as well as other accounts) of the recorder, and repertoire of the recorder (and reviews of modern works on the recorder). At least as good as Edgar Hunt's book concerning the modern revival of the instrument, if not quite so familiarly chatty (Hunt was a major figure in the revival in the UK). The photographs are somewhat poorly reproduced, a problem in common with other books in Cambridge's music series.