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Tom Service explores the music and mystery of that humble, plastic and mass-produced schooldays favourite - the recorder.

For many years, the humble, plastic and mass-produced recorder has been a mainstay of music education. The first instrument put into the hands of thousands of 20th-century primary school children across the world, creating lifelong musical memories, some good, some bad. That’s all now under threat from a small, stringed imposter: the ukulele. A recent survey of children who play a musical instrument found that the proportion playing the recorder has collapsed from 52% in 1997 to just 15% in 2020. Ukelele playing since 2014 is up by 15%.

Recorders appear in paintings as early as the 15th century and have long been associated with angels and amateurs as well as children. Henry VIII was a big fan – β€˜exercising himselfe dailie in … plaieing at the recorders’; and on hearing one in 1668 Samuel Pepys said it was β€˜so sweet that it ravished me ; and indeed, in a word, did wrap up my soul so that it made me really sick, just as I have formerly been when in love with my wife’. He bought himself one six weeks later. An understated presence in the history of classical music nevertheless, the recorder has been utilised by composers from Henry Purcell and Handel, to Paul Hindemith and Luciano Berio.

So, what next for the recorder, and can it survive all those ukuleles? Tom Service investigates…

Producer: Ruth Thomson

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 17 Nov 2023 16:30
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Ludwig GΓΆransson

    Ludwig GΓΆransson: The Mandalorian - Hey Mando

    Performer: Ludwig GΓΆransson.
    • DISNEY RECORDS.
    • D003622301.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Matthauspassion BWV.244

    Performer: Lucie Horsch. Performer: Academy of Ancient Music.
    • DECCA.
    • 483 4722.

  • Michal Talma-Sutt

    Michal Talma-Sutt: Prisma

    Performer: Michal Talma-Sutt.
    • HADULLA RECORDS.
    • LC 00153.

  • Henry VIII

    Henry VIII: Anne Boleyn - Taunder Taken

    Performer: Flanders Recorder Quartet.
    • PASSACAILLE.
    • PAS948.

  • Jacob van Eyck

    Jacob Van Eyck: Phyllis, beautiful shepherdess

    Performer: Marion Verbruggen.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMU 907170.

  • Christopher Tye

    In nomine for 6 instruments

    Performer: Annette John. Performer: Han Tol. Performer: Boreas Quartett.
    • CPO.
    • 777 897-2.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in C minor RV.441 for recorder and orchestra

    Performer: Lucie Horsch. Performer: Amsterdam Vivaldi Players. Conductor: Candida Thompson.
    • DECCA.
    • 483 0896.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: North German Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: GΓΌnter Wand.
    • RCA.
    • 74321 202772.

  • Johann David Heinichen

    Concerto in C major S.211 for 3/4 recorders, strings and continuo

    Performer: Musica Antiqua KΓΆln.
    • ARCHIV.
    • 437 550-2.

  • Paul Hindemith

    Trio for recorders [Ploner Musiktag - part 4, Abendkonzert]

    Performer: Alison Melville. Performer: Colin Savage. Performer: Natalie Michaud.
    • ATMA.
    • ACD 22206.

  • Luciano Berio

    Gesti for alto [treble] recorder solo

    Performer: Michala Petri.
    • POINT RECORDS.
    • 476159.

  • Guillame De Machaut

    Machaut: Ma fin est mon commencement; Hoquetus David (excerpt)

    Performer: Sour Cream.
    • GLOSSA.
    • GCD-921102.

  • Fulvio Caldini

    Clockwork-toccata Op.68c for 4 recorders

    Performer: Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet.
    • CHANNEL CLASSICS.
    • CCS SA-25707.

  • Louis Andriessen

    Sweet for recorder/[?] recorder ensemble

    Performer: Lucie Horsch.

  • Fausto Romitelli

    Fausto Romitelli: Seascape (excerpt)

    Performer: Antonio Politano. Performer: Prime Recorder Ensemble.
    • OLIVE MUSIC/ETCETERA.
    • KTC 1908.

  • Ludwig GΓΆransson

    Ludwig GΓΆransson: The Mandalorian - Hey Mando

    Performer: Ludwig GΓΆransson.
    • DISNEY RECORDS.
    • D003622301.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 30 Jan 2022 17:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Fri 4 Feb 2022 16:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Sun 12 Nov 2023 17:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Fri 17 Nov 2023 16:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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