Your Recorder Community

Frans Brüggen (1934-2014) was known for saying “Blokfluit spelen is een mentaliteit” (“Recorder-playing is a state of mind”), and that a love of the instrument is absolutely essential. This year’s Play-the-Recorder-Month piece is an homage to this great artist, who would have turned 90 years old this year. Brüggen passed down so many gifts to us, and one can find in the piece moments that call for breath control (including messa di voce), beautiful tone, perhaps a little virtuosity, tight ensemble, and other modern techniques. The pitch sequence F-A-Bb-G-G-E appears frequently, derived from the letters in Frans Brüggen’s name. Further, as this is Brüggen’s 90th birthday, and he was the 9th of nine children, the number 9 figures prominently, both melodically and rhythmically. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the American Recorder Society for the honor of writing this piece and, of course, to Frans Brüggen, for his enduring inspiration.

This version of the piece has been edited for the ARS; the full original piece will be available through Lost in Time Press.