Your Recorder Community

Composer notes: The Plaint is a four-part setting of a single-line melody that came for a visit one day while I was fooling around at the piano. When melodies like this show up, they are often shaped by my Celtic DNA and seem to have their own personality. The meaning of the title Plaint might be either that of a sad mournful song, or an intense complaint seeking for redress of some grievance. This melody seemed to have elements of both sentiments.

Our composition this month was sponsored by a generous donation from Altina Waller, a professional historian, now retired from the University of Connecticut, Storrs. Altina began playing recorder 40 years ago as a graduate student, put it aside for a time, but at retirement returned to the recorder as a very different form of expression than teaching and writing. She has sponsored music by Will Ayton because she “simply fell in love” with his compositions and arrangements and wanted more. She believes we need to support living composers, as they expand the repertoire for all of us.