A Short Sprint by John Turner - For Descant Recorder and Piano

Another wonderful short piece by Forsyth recorder editor John Turner, suiting players of advanced ability. A Short Sprint was written for the talented young Japanese recorder player Hidehiro Nakamura, who premiered it (accompanied by Naruhiko Kawaguchi), on 7th December 2013, at Kuwana City Hall, Mie Prefecture, and on 14th December 2013 at the Jesus Church, Nezu, Tokyo, Japan.

'What a fantastic, thrilling ride...full of pulsating rhythms, energetic passagework, and unrelenting momentum' Adam J Dopadlik, Recorder Magazine

John Turner was born in Stockport in 1943, and is one of the leading recorder players of today. He was Senior Scholar in Law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and as a practising solicitor acted for many leading musicians and musical organisations. He has premièred over 500 works for his instrument, including concertos written for him by Kenneth Leighton, Anthony Gilbert, Gordon Crosse, John Casken, Stephen Dodgson, Elis Pehkonen, John Gardner, Peter Hope and many others. His discoveries include recorder works by Handel, John Parry (The Nightingale Rondo, being the only known British nineteenth century concert work for a fipple flute), Rawsthorne and Antony Hopkins. His own recorder compositions, notably Four Diversions and Six Bagatelles (both in the Forsyth catalogue), are standard repertoire and examination pieces for the instrument worldwide, and a companion work, Three Salutes, was published in 2013. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music in 2002 for his services to British music and is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar of. Manchester University.

See it performed by Hidehiro Nakamura via YouTube here.