James Hook (1746-1827) had a seemingly unusual career as an organist and composer for primarily secular institutions. He worked for the popular White Conduit House (1764), a popular tea garden, the Marylebone Gardens, a pleasure garden (1768), and Vauxhall Gardens (1774), also a pleasure garden. It is not difficult to imagine the Trios op. 83 being performed in one of these settings.
The six trios presented here are delightful examples of the classical style. Each trio is in three movements utilizing the tempo scheme “fast-slow-fast”. Most of the movements are in binary form with the notable exception of the second movement of trio no. 6, which is an unusual little canon.
The Trios op. 83 were recorded at A=415 on “Beukers” model traversi made by Simon Polack. We hope these recordings will serve as a reference for anyone seeking to do further study of these lovely pieces.
Special Thanks to:
John Vreeland, Director of Music, St. George’s Episcopal
James Kazik, producer
Adam Seaman, recording engineer
Donald Seaman, art director
Linda Seaman, layout supervisor
Simon Polack, flutes
Recorded on January 3-5, 2012 at St. George’s Episcopal Church, Fredericksburg , VA.
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