Composition - - American Recorder Society
Siciliana
By Chaz Warren June 2023
 
A B B Gb
 
 
This "Siciliana" is a slow dance in 6/8 which evokes a pastoral mood. The harmonies are mainly tertian and the instrumentation allows the mellow lower range of the alto recorder to be featured as well as some nice moments featuring the bass and great bass recorders. Pay close attention to the tempo marking. This piece goes nice and slow.
-- Chaz Warren
 
 
This ABBG quartet is full of pleasing melodies at a delightfully unhurried pace. Lush harmonies and sonorous chords lead the listener from phrase to phrase, each with an introspective charm you’ll want to savor before it leads to the next. The relaxed tempo keeps the technical challenges at bay, with 2 measures with 16th-note arpeggios being the fastest notes in the piece. The Alto and Bass 1 both go up to high E once, but otherwise all parts sit in their comfort zone. The Great Bass enjoys plenty of low notes and even some solo moments, opening the piece alone before the others join. A beautifully simple “strummed” chord in the low basses toward the end is just one of many details in the piece that deserve playing and listening again. The composer uses fewer accidentals in this piece than in some of his other works, but he does include some precise articulation markings, as well as helpful “Solo/Soli/Lead” and “ord.” (= ordinary) instructions to show the players at first glance when they are in the foreground with their melody or in the background as support.
-- Glen Shannon

Performed by the composer:
Listen to all parts
No alto - you play alto
No bass 1 - you play bass 1
No bass 2 - you play bass 2
No great bass - you play great bass
 
 
No. of Recorder Parts:
4
Difficulty:
Moderate
Occasion:
Any
Libraries:
New Music for Recorder, Play-alongs
Date Added:
08/17/2023
Style:
Concert, Laid-back/Slow, Tonal/Melodic, Recorded Accompaniment