rrayner
01-28-2013, 11:58 PM
This piece is written for Soprano Recorder and Alto Recorder. Play along with Notation Composer or print the piece for playing with your friend(s). Please feel free to change the instruments and/or keys to suit your personal needs. RRR
“Air” is part of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major”. In some renditions, it is known as “Air on the G String”. It was written somewhere between 1717 and 1723 for 2 violins, viola and continuo. I have presented the soprano part almost exactly like it is in Bach's score, with the exception of changing the key from D Major to F Major as a range consideration. The alto part is another story altogether. I’ve always been drawn to the bass part (continuo) for its linear motion, so I’ve used a lot of that voice (without the octave skips). But there are a lot of other nice phrases here and there that I didn’t want to overlook, and I wanted to give the alto something more to do than a base line, so I’ve moved the alto part around liberally. Hopefully, the purists won’t mind too much. I’ve tried to keep the harmonic structure intact, even when I jump around in the lower voices.
This piece is a breathing challenge for wind instrument players, as it was written for strings. I have placed the slurs where I think it is reasonable to take a breath -- your experience may differ. Please feel free to make your own breath breaks.
This is a challenging piece. We hope you enjoy playing it.
Ralph Rayner
“Air” is part of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major”. In some renditions, it is known as “Air on the G String”. It was written somewhere between 1717 and 1723 for 2 violins, viola and continuo. I have presented the soprano part almost exactly like it is in Bach's score, with the exception of changing the key from D Major to F Major as a range consideration. The alto part is another story altogether. I’ve always been drawn to the bass part (continuo) for its linear motion, so I’ve used a lot of that voice (without the octave skips). But there are a lot of other nice phrases here and there that I didn’t want to overlook, and I wanted to give the alto something more to do than a base line, so I’ve moved the alto part around liberally. Hopefully, the purists won’t mind too much. I’ve tried to keep the harmonic structure intact, even when I jump around in the lower voices.
This piece is a breathing challenge for wind instrument players, as it was written for strings. I have placed the slurs where I think it is reasonable to take a breath -- your experience may differ. Please feel free to make your own breath breaks.
This is a challenging piece. We hope you enjoy playing it.
Ralph Rayner