# Serious Solo Recorder Repertoire (mostly Renaissance and Baroque)



## silentio

I have recently been interested in early music and learnt the recorder (soprano/sopranino/alto).

What are some great pieces for _unaccompanied_ recorder?

So far I only know:

1) *Telemann*'s 12 Fantasias for alto recorder
2) *Jacob van Eyck*'s Der Fluyten Lust-hof for soprano recorder
3) *Purcell*'s Prelude for recorder
4) Various transcriptions of Bach's cello,violin, and flute partita for alto recorder.

What else would you suggest?


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## joen_cph

Investigating the recorded output of the soloists Michala Petri and Dan Laurin will bring out some further solo pieces.

Cf 
https://www.michalapetri.com/discography
http://www.danlaurin.com/discography/

Marais


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## Nate Miller

I just went to SheetMusicPlus and searched for solo recorder and found all sorts of stuff. 

also look for "Flute a Bec". that's another term for a recorder

there should be loads of stuff. Vivaldi, Purcell, Monteverdi...they all wrote for the instrument. I believe even modern composers like Hindemith and Britton wrote for recorder. maybe not recorder solo, but its still worth a look.

failing all that, I know you said "serious" music, but look at Irish and Scottish aires, too. Some of those make nice solo pieces


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## silentio

Nate Miller said:


> I just went to SheetMusicPlus and searched for solo recorder and found all sorts of stuff.
> 
> also look for "Flute a Bec". that's another term for a recorder
> 
> there should be loads of stuff. Vivaldi, Purcell, Monteverdi...they all wrote for the instrument. I believe even modern composers like Hindemith and Britton wrote for recorder. maybe not recorder solo, but its still worth a look.
> 
> failing all that, I know you said "serious" music, but look at Irish and Scottish aires, too. Some of those make nice solo pieces


Thanks! I will definitely check the Irish tunes out.

Yes, the literature for Baroque recorder is vast (concerti, sonata, trio sonata etc), but I am looking for _unaccompanied_ pieces, something at the level of Bach's BWV 1013 for flute (which has been successfully transcribed for treble recorder, for example: 



), or Telemann's Fantasia (



). However, I also understand that unaccompanied works for arguably more famous instruments, like the violin and the cello, are also rare, thus I will happily stay focus on a small but in high-quality solo works, which have been featured by artists like Brüggen and Petri.

P/S: not that I am that good to solo such challenging works. I just try to set a high goal


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## Pugg

> P/S: not that I am that good to solo such challenging works. I just try to set a high goal


That's the spirit, reach for the top, nothing less.


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## Nate Miller

silentio said:


> Thanks! I will definitely check the Irish tunes out.


if you get a book of Irish whistle tunes, they will all fit the range of your recorder, but the common key for the Irish whistle is D.

so if a tune you are playing seems awkward, transpose down a step and it should lay right on your recorder


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## lindia

There are also a lot of great contemporary recorder pieces out there if you are interested!
we have a lot of old and new original recorder literature but nothing in between  or at least not a lot


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