PROGRAMME NOTES
A Memory Of David Munrow Two counter-tenors, two treble recorders, viola da gamba, harpsichord (1977) The first performance was given by James Bowman, Charles Brett (counter-tenors); John Turner, David Pugsley (recorders); Oliver Brooks (viola da gamba); and Keith Elcombe (harpsichord) on 7 May 1977. The first BBC R3 broadcast was from that concert on 17 March 1978.
Peter Dickinson worked closely with David Munrow in the composition of his Translations (1971) and Recorder Music (1973). This short piece, A Memory of David Munrow, was written for a BBC concert in Manchester at which Munrow was due to play, but he died tragically a few months earlier. It is a tribute to a remarkable musician of outstanding gifts. The melody - a wordless lament sung in unbroken legato by the counter-tenors - is taken from Translations and so are the parts for recorders and harpsichord. The gamba melody comes from Recorder Music and also exists as Air for flute solo. These separate pre-existing elements are put together in a new way, with fully notated separate parts but no full score, to make an independent piece.
© 2008-25 Estate of Peter Dickinson