Quartet No 2

1 - Prelude

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Quartet No 2

2 - Unsteady Ground

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Quartet No 2

3 - Meditation on Sonnet XVIII

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Quartet No 2

4 - Tarantella

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Quartet No 5

1 - Prelude

This is a multi-track recording by Stephen Watson.
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Quartet No 5

2 - Homage … Monsieur Legrande

This is a multi-track recording by Stephen Watson.
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Quartet No 5

3 - C₂H₂OH

This is a multi-track recording by Stephen Watson.
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Quartet No 5

4 - Sarabande

This is a multi-track recording by Stephen Watson.
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Quartet No 5

5 - March of the Conspiritors

This is a multi-track recording by Stephen Watson.
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Again a set of five pieces about things that crossed my path in a two or three week period.

1. Prelude    A rhythmically complicated little piece that manages to make reference to a melody that all of us over 60 may remember from 'wireless days'
2. Homage à Monsieur LeGrande Michel Legrande is a truly great songwriter and composer. it is too easy to overlook real elegance and genius but the simplicity and charm of his style have always been favourites of mine
3. C₂H₅OH This is meant to be a portrait of someone getting rather amiably drunk. it starts of rather tricky and gets in one or two places very very difficult. this is INTENTIONAL and is meant to sound, frankly, drunk. Do try your best to play what is written but if it comes out a little erratically, well that is the idea!
4. Sarabande This sarabande acknowledges the baroque heritageof the recorder in its rhythms and form. Everyone gets a turn with the melody 
5. March of the Conspirators     Although being a member of a political party I do not often reflect this in my music, other than I hope in its humanity. This little march was a musical sketch of a fairly recent political coup that did not work and was to my mind so inept that it was funny. For those who prefer to keep recent politics out of music think instead of the last man to enter the houses of parliament with honest intent. Guy Fawkes

Three Pieces for Recorder Orchestra, Igor's Day Out

1 - Igor's Day Out

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First of the Three Pieces, split into individual works in this opus

There is a performance of this work here on Youtube.

Three Pieces for Recorder Orchestra, L'apres midi d'un gourmand

1 - L'après-midi d'un Gourmand

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Second of the Three Pieces, split into individual works in this opus

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Three Pieces for Recorder Orchestra, Marche Macabre

1 - March Macabre

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Third of the Three Pieces, split into separate works within this opus

There is a performance of this work here on Youtube

Overture: Eduardo e Carmella

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As well as thinking about concerti, I started to think about one-movement overtures., possibly to operas that had never been written.

My wife and I have recently started to share our life with two retired racing greyhounds called Ted and Toffee. Their simple enthusiastic zest for life and total transparency of character reminded me so much of the Music of Rossini that I could not resist writing this overture, Eduardo e Carmella.

Overture: Anna Karenina

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The second in my series of overtures to operas that were never written. Although other composers set Anna Karenina as an opera Verdi did not. And in the same spirit as the symphonies i wondered what the overture or such an opera may have sounded like.

Concerto No 1 for Orchestra

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Concerto No 2 for Orchestra

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This is the second in this series - quite different to the first I think you will find.

Battenberg Concerto

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The odd title will not need explaining to British folks but I should explain that if a Brit says Battenberg they are thinking not of a small town in Germany or even a ‘noble’ family but simply of CAKE - see here for a fuller explanation.

As ever any similarity to J S Bach's third Brandenburg concerto is totally intentional! I do hope you enjoy it and don’t find the Christmas element of the last movement (I have incorporated the melody of Oh Du Fröliche) an obstacle to playing it at other times of year.

There are a lot of semiquavers but there are no Ab minor scales ANYWHERE!

Battenberg Concerto No 1

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Any similarity to J S Bach's third Brandenburg concerto is totally intentional! I do hope you enjoy it and don’t find the Christmas element of the last movement an obstacle to playing it at other times of year.

There are a lot of semiquavers but there are no A♭ minor scales ANYWHERE!

Battenberg Concerto No 3

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The third in my series - I promise I will stop pestering Bach after this one.

This is for normal conventional recorder orchestra although preferably one per part.

Blorsta on Broadway

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This overture owes a lot to Gershwin and Bernstein and was written for a Blockflöten Orchester Sankt Augustin to play in a competition.

Hence the strange name Blorsta on Broadway.