Rose: The Bird and the Donkey

Description

Solo soprano recorder; briefly also uses alto recorder, to be played simultaneously by the same performer. -- ''The Bird and the Donkey' was commissioned by Gunter Janoschka in 2002. The title does not refer to a story or a fairytale, but to the content of the music. 'The Bird' gets its name in part from the quotations of the bird catcher Papageno's theme from Mozart's opera 'The Magic Flute' which appear at the beginning and very briefly at the end of the movement. They frame an intense jazz solo in a bebop blues style ... 'The Donkey' movement is based on a Greek folk song, the subject of which is a donkey. The original song consists of three two-measure motifs that are repeated several times. The movement is a complex elaboration on the song's motifs.' Pete Rose

"This work is farily advanced in difficulty and is a true enrichment to the recorder repertoire....It includes ample background information such as a guide for the special notation and instructions for the piece in general....With every little improvement, the player is rewarded by mastering new effects. in the end, the pleasure of adding such a daring, imaginative and rich piece to a player's repertoire easily pays back the effort!"--Mirja Lorenz, for American Recorder (May 2010)