This quartet has four movements: Introduction, Dance, Reflection and Fugue. It is one of the most exciting pieces I've written and demands full attention on the part of the players. I debuted this Quartet in Albany, CA in November, 2001 as part of a larger debut concert of the American Recorder Orchestra of the West. I performed it again at a fundraiser concert for the now-late Phil Robbins in April 2007.

Introduction
A stately procession, with the melody in the Alto. Soprano and Tenor are the accompaniment, with the Bass marking the pace. Feel free to add drama to the ending. A sketch of this movement as part of a solo recorder sonata with keyboard also exists.

All recordings are multitracks by Jan Jaap Langereis

Dance
As you can see from the snippet shown above, the piece starts with an ascending arpeggio distributed among the four parts. A swirling maelstrom of organized movement depends on accurate counting and confidence in all players. There's no place for the timid to hide- the Tenor part is just as critical as anyone else! Several moods emerge during the course of the movement, all of them aggressive. It's a dance movement, after all!

Reflection
A constantly pulsing undercurrent marks this introspective movement in the key of B-flat. The top three parts each take a turn at the opening solo introduced in the Soprano. The third iteration is stated by the Alto which starts to diverge from the chord pattern and brings us into a minor mode. It goes on from there, winding its way through this key-center and that, always with that pulsating undercurrent. It finally ends with a high B-flat in the Soprano which CAN be played sweetly.

Fugue
The subject of this fugue has been going around and around in my head for about ten years, but I had trouble conjuring up a convincing countersubject. Originally, this fugue was a stand-alone work (actually a fugue in need of a prelude) for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon. It's really nice that way too! Working it out for recorders required a new key and a couple octave shifts here and there. Why am I telling you this? So you know my music is adaptable.