The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder (Cambridge Companions to Music) [Hardcover]

John Mansfield Thomson (Editor), Anthony Rowland-Jones (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 052135269X | ISBN-13: 978-0521352697 | Publication Date: October 27, 1995

This is the first book to offer a complete introduction to the recorder. Eight contributors from four different countries write on topics such as the recorder and its music through the centuries, the recorder as orchestral instrument, the professional recorder player through history and today, and the phenomenon of the recorder revival. The Companion also contains basic reference material previously unavailable in one volume. A special feature is the rich collection of illustrations that provide a history of the instrument. The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder will be of interest to performers and students as well as to music enthusiasts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is probably the best, and certainly the most current, book-length, general survey of the instrument....The chapters make for excellent reading....I highly recommend The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder....The writing is concise and scholarly, providing thoughtful summaries by seven contributors who have spent much of their lives working in recorder research. This, combined with many wonderful illustrations, makes The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder an enjoyable and worthy addition (or beginning) to your music library." Mark Davenport, American Recorder

Book Description

The first book to offer a complete introduction to the recorder includes basic reference material previously unavailable in one volume. A special feature is the rich collection of illustrations which in themselves provide a history of the instrument.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 62 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (October 27, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052135269X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521352697
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,054,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bravo, almost, October 16, 2002

By 

G. B. Talovich (Wulai, Taiwan, ROC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder (Cambridge Companions to Music) (Paperback)

Any recorder player will enjoy and learn from this book.

I have been playing the alto recorder for a year now. This book taught me a great deal about the instrument. What's even better,
the book carefully introduces the repertory and where to find and read about it.I am delighted to learn that I will never run out of material to play.

The book is written with care, verve, and love. However, the reader is assumed to have considerable knowledge, to know without explanation, for instance, the implications of wide windways and bores, and narrow windways (p178). The history of the 20th century recorder revival, of great interest to contemporary enthusiasts, is brushed off twice, as "described and discussed in several publications." Fine, then why not this one? This should have been dealt with more carefully. The illustrations are very poorly reproduced. I am still suffering from eyestrain from trying to find the recorder in Plate 27.

Overall, though, this is a book any recorder player will want.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very good book about the history of the recorder, July 23, 2008

By 

F. Barbieri (Ribeirão Preto, SP Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder (Cambridge Companions to Music) (Paperback)

This is the only easily available book about the history of the instrument, with nice chapters dealing with the history of the recorder and coments about the repertoire. so, if you love the recorder, it is a must buy.
My only complain is that they should include a chapter with systematic and more detailed description and analysis of all Telemann and Hendel sonatas. A non academic chapter about the instruments available in the market, with photos of the various sizes would enlarge the number of readers interested in the book.

3.0 out of 5 stars For those who are seeking to expand their historical horizon on the development of the recorder and its role in music making, January 12, 2012

By 

Agogo (Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder (Cambridge Companions to Music) (Paperback)

A detailed History Lesson on the Recorder with some "how to" GEMs strewn in along the way...

For those who are seeking to expand their historical horizon on the development of the recorder and its role in music making through the centuries and broadly, the type and evolution of music written for it. Consists largely of factual texts - but with rather poorly illustrated low-res black and white photos/drawings - covering topics such as:
- the recorder and its music through the centuries;
- the use of recorders in an orchestra
- profressional players and their instruments
- the revival of the recorder and its role in education (there are some criticisms fr above reviews on the brevity of that topic which was insufficiently dealt with)

I was, however, not immediately drawn to the book when I first opened it ... but it appears to be an authority on the subject for those seeking it. Personally, for my current purposes, I much prefer Wollitz's Recorder Book which offers practical instruction - but the two books are mutually exclusive, covering totally different aspects of the instrument. To each his own. As a history book - almost first class.

Wollitz's book "instructs, inspires and aims to facilitate the mastery of recorder playing".
This book is very much a history lesson about the recorder with some "how tos" gems offered between the paragraphs.