YORK BOWEN (1884-1961): Sonatina for Recorder and Piano, Op. 121, EDMUND RUBBRA (1901-1986): Sonatina for Recorder and Harpsichord, Op. 128, Passacaglia sopra "Plusieurs regrets" for Recorder and Harpsichord, Op. 113, WALTER LEIGH (1905-1942): Sonatina for Recorder and Piano, LENNOX BERKELEY (1903-1989): Sonatina for Recorder and Piano, Op. 13, HERBERT MURRILL (1909-1952): Recorder Sonata, CYRIL SCOTT (1879-1970): Aubade for Recorder and Piano.

Description: All but one of these works were composed for Carl Dolmetsch to play at Wigmore Hall concerts from 1939-65 (Leigh's was performed by Dolmetsch elsewhere). Dolmetsch, of course, was responsible for jump-starting a whole modern repertoire for the recorder and the significance of the names listed above is plain. The sound of the recorder suggests an idealized, pastoral past and most of these works are suffused with a longing, sometimes melancholy, for a pre-War (pick which War!) past; French influences are most pronounced in Murrill and Berkeley while Scott's nine-minute Aubade is, not surprisingly, the most unique with the composer's typical harmonic interest and continuous melodic flow. Dan Laurin (recorder), Anna Paradiso (piano, harpsichord).