Forest Rhapsody was popularized in Taiwan by the ocarina artist You Xue-zhi. The music he plays on the ocarina really captures the essence of the instrument and is a lot of fun to play. He gets a lot of inspiration for his music from the natural beauty of his homeland in Taiwan. I have his latest CD, The Steadfast Palm Grass, and it has many lovely melodies that I look forward to learning to play. You can find some of his music here.
This is the third movement of Handel’s recorder sonata in A minor. I was inspired to learn the first movement many years ago after hearing Kenji Ogawa’s performance of it. Many years later, I listened to the rest of the sonata and decided I wanted to learn the rest of it too.
The fourth and final movement will be more difficult than anything I’ve ever attempted, so wish me luck guys! ^_^
Much thanks to KresimirCindric for making this lovely backtrack.
The ocarina I’m using is the Purple Clay Triple ocarina, which can be purchased from STL ocarina.
I finally recorded a sound sample for my Chen Ching alto ocarina in A major. The excerpt is from the Virtonian polka de concert (for ocarina and piano) by Charles Le Thière. Giorgio Pacchioni’s version of this piece is one of the best performances I have heard on the ocarina.
You can purchase Chen Ching ocarinas from STLocarina.