Sitting Ducks [Import]

Bart de Kemp (Composer), Tore Bjorn Larsen (Composer), Daan Manneke (Composer), Chiel Meijering (Composer), Ryohei Hirose (Composer), Sirena Recorder Quartet (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Sirena Recorder Quartet
• Composer: Bart de Kemp, Tore Bjorn Larsen, Daan Manneke, Chiel Meijering, Ryohei Hirose
• Audio CD (June 28, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: BIS/Grammofon
• ASIN: B00004TXU3
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,184,994 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sitting Ducks, for flute quartet

2. Vogelzug

3. Lieto, for 4 recorders

4. Lamentation

5. Idyll, for recorder quartet

6. Archipel I

7. Ode 1

8. Ode 2

9. Jakobsstigen

10. Een Paard met vijf poten, for flute quartet

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Sampling of Modern Recorder Music, June 12, 2002

By 

Christopher Forbes "weirdears" (Brooklyn,, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sitting Ducks (Audio CD)

The recorder gets a bum rap in America. It an instrument most often associated with elementary school music, where it is used to "prepare you for a real instrument". It's a shame really, because the sound of a good recorder ensemble is quite beautiful and deserving of wider interest by contemporary composers.

This offering by the Dutch based SIRENA quartet is an interesting affair. It focuses mostly on Dutch composers with a nod to one of the most prolific composers for recorder, Ryohei Hirose. The works vary in quality from the frivolous, but fun (Sitting Ducks) to the sublime (Jakobsstigen). The composers on the disk do not share a particular aesthetic bent. Some music is highly 12 note, and some is almost archaic. The Hirose compositions in particular are eclectic. Lamentation is serial in it's organization, but with touches of the shakuhachi. On the other hand, Idyll 1 and Ode I are almost medieval and very beautiful pieces. The Meijering piece that gives the CD it's title is alot of fun...minimalist and yet not repetitious...and much more harmonically adventurous than most minimalism.

Performances are expert. The Sirena quartet has control of a wide range of timbral effects and if precise in intonation and ensemble. If their rendition of Hirose's Idyll I misses the sustained improvisatory exstasy of the Flanders Quartet, the inclusion of more twentieth century music more than makes up for this. A good solid release. Recommended for recorder fans or people interested in new music for rare ensembles.