These days, all my baroque recorders are based on original instruments from various collections. I usually make them in boxwood, but I do have several other woods that work equally well, including: olive, plum and maple. The vast majority of original recorders have single holes and play with ‘old’ as opposed to Dolmetsch fingering. While the technique of drilling two smaller holes in the place of one single one was certainly within the capability of 18th century craftsmen, they obviously made the conscious choice not to do so. My feeling is that they did this because double holes not only affect the quality of the lowest few notes, it actually changes the sound of the entire first octave, and this was a compromise that recorder makers of the 18th century preferred not to make. As a consequence, I’ve recently decided to only make my baroque recorders with single holes and old fingering.
Alto after Jacob Denner
This is quite closely based on a plain boxwood instrument by Jacob Denner in the Musikhistorisk Museum, Copenhagen. This has a convenient pitch of a=415 Hz and a lovely, free high register. The lower notes are not as strong and solid as found on many English instruments, although with single holes and old fingering, the lower notes are a lot more solid and full sounding. I make this recorder with both modern and old fingering, with double and single holes.
Tenor recorder after Johann Schell
I have been making copies of a tenor recorder in a-415 Hz by Johann Schell from the Tyrolean State Museum in Innsbruck. The recorder is a comfortable fit for the hands and has no key, despite being in a low pitch. Like the well preserved original, my copies are made in boxwood and have single holes and old fingering, but I have also made a few in plumwood, which make for a lighter instrument. Please contact me for more information and waiting times.
Alto recorder after Bressan
As an English recorder maker, it seemed strange never to have made an alto based on an English model. So a few years ago, I took the plans I had of the ex. Hunt collection alto that is now in the Bate Collection, Oxford and decided to make a close copy of it. The original has full ivory mounts single holes and is pitched around a=405 Hz and I am making a copy of this instrument, without the ivory mounts. The waiting time for these instruments is at the moment shorter than for my “Denner” model, please let me know if you would like any further information.
Alto recorder in g’ by J. B. Gahn
This is a new model, based on two original instruments, one in a private collection in Hamburg and the other in the Brüggen collection in Amsterdam. They are both in a pitch around modern f#’, which means they could be considered either an f’ recorder in high pitch (a=466 Hz), or a g’ recorder in low pitch (a=415 Hz). Gahn was a member of the turner’s guild in Nürnberg and many of his recorders are unlike the more standard designs of the Denners, Schell, Oberlander etc.. As I illustrated in an article published by the Vienna Kunsthistorisches museum, some of recorders are internally more similar to the Kynseker designs and in this respect, show a connection to early baroque recorders.
Voice flute
I have recently stopped making the voice flute that I have made for the last 35 years, which was loosely based on a tenor recorder by J.C. Denner, in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.
Despite being happy with the design, I decided the instrument was too much of a compromise of my wish to make recorders closely based on historical examples and performance practice.
As far as we know, the voice flute in d’ was unknown in Germany, so this instrument would originally have been a high pitch recorder in c’. In the future I may well make a new series of voice flutes based on an English model and designed for the repertoire of the voice flute, and not necessarily that of the traverso.
