A Reinvented Recorder: Sounds Like a Tenor, Handspan Like a Soprano

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Kunath Instrumentenbau, an ARS business member whose most popular line of recorders are the ergonomic Paetzolds, introduced a new recorder at the London International Festival of Early Music (LIFEM).

Sigo is a recorder model series developed in collaboration between Kunath Instrumentenbau and Geri Bollinger, one of Europe's leading recorder makers. This tenor instrument has almost the same grip width as a soprano (descant) recorder. The angled headjoint and the thumb rest are integrated into the mold to make it particularly ergonomic. The body is made of RESONA, a material developed by Kunath Instrumentenbau from renewable raw materials. The headjoint is made from plant-based resins.

Jo Kunath says, "We at Kunath Instrumentenbau were completely electrified when Geri Bollinger presented his current project to us and suggested we work together. For those of you who may not know who Geri Bollinger is: Geri is a Swiss recorder developer and I believe he was already one of the leading minds in the world of recorder development. For example, he developed the great bass and the sub-bass of the Superio series for Küng, so it is certain that those who have not yet heard his name have most likely already heard and admired his instruments. Geri outlined his idea. It was immediately clear to me... this is more than ingenious. This is what the [beginner] recorder had been waiting for since its rebirth in the 1930s: a warm, deep sound.”

When the recorder was reintroduced in the 1930s, he says, the larger recorders that were popular centuries before were ignored in favor of an instrument that was easy to play. That means that the only recorder most people know about is the high-pitched soprano from their elementary school days. "A soprano recorder in the hand and mouth of a trained recorder player can sound wonderful, but not [always] as a learning instrument. After all, you don't just play around on the highest keys on the piano either... unfortunately there was no recorder that was as easy to grip as a soprano recorder and that also sounded as pleasant as a tenor recorder." This new recorder solves that squeaky problem by having a folded bore, where the instrument's internal air tube, or bore, is folded back on itself in a U-shape, allowing for a long-sounding length to fit within a manageable physical size; essentially, the long tube is doubled back to create a compact instrument.

Jo continues, "Of course all the great baroque copies and replicas of the impressive Renaissance consorts should and will continue to be in demand, built and played. The modern recorder interpretations by Maarten Helder and Adriana Breukink have also found their place in the recorder world... For me the most important is: Every material is plant-based, every part is made in-house. So is absolutely not a normal "plastic" recorder. And this is the reason why it sounds that warm... but is shorter than a normal tenor. That is also why Sigo is not round. It has its own shape, which encloses the inner bore, integrates a thumb rest and is designed so that the instrument sounds really good, but with as little material as possible - because that makes it not only ecological, but also ergonomic."

Retailing for about $145 (US), the Sigo recorder will be available in January 2025 from the Kunath website.