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In the Forum: Musical Discussions
In the Thread: Performance of a week.

Post Subject: Recorder performancesPosted by JJ Triode on: 6/11/2009

I think the recorder has a split personality. At the lowest level it is one of the easiest instruments for kids to learn to play, often used in schools, usually with very cheap plastic instruments.

At the opposite end it is one of the hardest instruments to play "as it should be" and very few musicians do it. It also requires a very small performance space as the recorder just cannot produce much SPL, especially if tone matters. Probably to record it properly is difficult too, microphone setup will demand special attention and other things need to be "right."

All the Baroque masters did some very nice concertos and sonatas for recorder, including Bach, Telemann, Handel, and Vivaldi. I listened to a recorder concerto by Vivaldi just last night. It was even more popular in the Renaissance, among others Pretorius used recorders along with his krumhorns, shawms and such.

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