Recorder types

Today, recorder players can choose from a range of instruments that reflects the wide knowledge of recorder making of different periods.

Recorders from the renaissance and early baroque (1)

can be recognized by their wide and nearly cylindric inner bore and their relatively large finger holes. The outside is  mostly straight and simple, with little decoration as we can see on instruments by Hieronymus F. Kynseker (1636–1686, Nuremberg). Characteristic is a powerful sound, especially in the low notes, which blends very well in ensembles with other recorders: in these periods, playing together with different sizes of recorders was a favored way of performing recorder music.

Baroque recorders (2) have a complicated irregular conical bore and smaller tone holes. Outside, the threepart instruments are decorated with artistic decorative rings as those of the famous recorders of Jacob Denner (1681–1735). Through an ingenious interaction of all determining factors, they give the necessary response for the highly virtuous music of the baroque: a quick and brilliant attack and agility over two octaves as well as expressiveness and well balanced sound characteristics through all registers.

Harmonic recorders (3) with their innovative concepts go beyond the historical examples. A slight conical bore and the extension of the instrument with key mechanics provide these recorders with absolutely new opportunities of sound and an remarkably extended tone scale up to the 3rd octave. Our Modern Alto and the Helder recorders were the first models to offer this new recorder type.