I appreciate your unedited honesty. When people edit everything in the studio and add reverb without telling people, new players will be confused why they can never sound like the pros.
I love the low recorders so much! As a flute player myself who owns an alto flute and loves playing it, I definitely appreciate the beauty of low recorders. There’s just that incredibly encompassing resonance that feels like it’s coming from inside the earth itself, it’s addictive both to listen to and to play! I so wish I could come to the concert this Saturday because I’ve listened to and adored BLOCK4’s music for a while now, but unfortunately I’m working :( please keep doing more wonderful recorder concerts!!!
as a clarinet player , i dont own a contrabass clarinet, even thought that instrument is taller than i am. That instrument can play some deep notes indeed. I play the contrabass clarinet in a local wind ensemble and somehow i can handle it .
Amazing! I can't even get a tenor to produce consistent notes! What a spectacular instrument. And frankly, I expected the cost to be several times that. Thanks for the video.
I love your explanation of the hole placement. Another way to think of it, from an acoustical engineering standpoint, is that this recorder only has two "holes", call them "meta holes", and the cluster of various size holes at those two locations correspond to various degrees of partial coverage of the meta holes.
This instrument sounds amazing! Such a sweet tone! I love all of the recorder family, but I particularly love the gentle sound of the low ones. :) Stellar playing!
Such a beautiful instrument! The bass family are my favorites, though I only own a bassett myself. I've been hoping you would do a deep dive on this! It's really interesting to see all that craftsmanship up close.
For a moment I thought that stick was a garklein recorder. They're about the same size. Nice to get a good look at one of the really big recorders and see melodies played on it. The largest recorder I've seen in person is a basset. I play that size - there isn't anything locally I could play a recorder larger than that in anyway.
Always been interested in the contrabass recorder and, primarily being a tuba player, I have picked up a few other bass instruments from bass guitar to bass ocarina and have been contemplating a bass clarinet. Alternatively, I've been considering adding a smaller F Bass Tuba (vs my typical contrabass BBb tuba), which I guess is relatively in the range of that contrabass recorder despite having an uncoiled tube length of 3.7 meters.
Thanks for all your great videos. I love recordermusic - and im i choirsinger. I mostly sing in the range of this recorder, and its fascinating to see how a recorder produces sounds in this range. On such a large instrument one really can see how hole placement, size and angling of the holes plays together to make a practical hole layout and its new to me that the placement can be varied so much.
Interesting sound. I can well imagine that it would be difficult to play. Thanks for taking it apart and explaining a bit about the history of the instrument. That made the video even better.
The hole placement being so different that on smaller recorders must make the subtle intonation tendencies and response of this instrument very different even than that of other instruments from a matching consort. I guess the reason the bottom hole is not placed close enough to the others to avoid a key is that doing that would require it to be either so small that it wouldn't speak clearly when open, or so large that the finger couldn't cover it.
I have played this size recorder, but in the modern version by Paetzold (now made by Kunath) which was very fun indeed. Since I also play low reeds I'm used to the amount of air required but when you have a reed it helps you to not use all the air at once! If I had the money to spend on it, I would definitely have at least a great bass in C and probably one of these as well.
Thanks for including the bit where you were still figuring out how to get the music to come out loudly without puffing and blowing sounds. Because you are an expert at making awesome noises come out of recorders, I kind of forgot that your lungs are like a pair of living-bagpipes that you are trying to quietly fill up and empty, while tooting notes through the recorder holes. Do you think that people have to get to a certain age to be able to have enough puff for an instrument like this?
When Prescott (recently retired from recorder making) was selling his recorders, his "Great Bass in F" Renaissance recorder went for $10350 (this is from his price list online). For comparison, his basset in f went for $5200 and soprano for $1875.
A brilliant review as usual. Thank you. Have you ever reviewed the Takeyama recorders? I looked but couldn't see one. I'd be interested in your opinion! 😀
If memory serves Praetorius' recorder pitches were F, Bb (!), f, c', g', c'' or d'' for the soprano and g''. So that's a mix of quint and octave relations. He might have looked at a couple of different large consorts to arrive at this list. I have heard of an Italian large consort tuned in F, c, g, d', a' & e''. But I wonder if there really were consorts tuned in just two pitches, whether c & f or d & g like Kynseker (if memory serves!). This would facilitate octave doubling of parts as Mersenne suggests and Royal Wind Music, etc., does now. On a completely different subject, the mouth of your contrabass seems surprisingly small in proportion to the instrument's circumference. This would tend to soften it. Did any builders then or now give wider mouths, or does that just make it too hard to play?
Thank you for this. I have two questions. 1.What is the wolf? 2. Could you make purchasing a livestream of the concert available for people living outside the performance country?
Contrabass recorders during the Renaissance? A photo or it didn't happen.😅 I'd love to hear the chromatic scale with one or two seconds of held notes and a slight space between notes... so I could make a sample library! Great stuff as always!
I've never played one of these, but it seems fairly quiet in this recording - how is the volume generally? Is it quieter for its size than we would expect?
I suspect that this recorder is a challenge to record faithfully. For one thing being so large, the place were the sound eminates from changes based on the number of fingers being used, which makes a big difference if the mic is close to the instrument. Using the same setup for her speaking and smaller recorders would be challenging for this larger one.
What is the melody at 0:50 ? I can almost place it. It sounds a little like Leib Nachtigall Wach Auf, but not quite. Or does it sound off because it's a harmony and not melody?
I don't think I've ever seen/encountered a (keyed) Renaissance recorder that permitted the low F# -- is there really no rep that would use that note? Am I missing something?
3:02 Just like low saxophones, clarinets, and brass instruments. 🤓 3:12 If this can be made keyless for its size, it has me wondering if the modern Great Bass In C could also be made without keys? 🤔
Great video as always, the sound of this beast doesn't appeal to me, I think there are instruments not really suited to play in that register and the recorder is one of them. Very much like an organ - the lowest notes never have a sweet timbre.
This is SO FREAKIN COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!🤯🤯🤯
Yooo Luke, please do a video about all your recorders
Calm da hell down, you don't have space for dis...
I appreciate your unedited honesty. When people edit everything in the studio and add reverb without telling people, new players will be confused why they can never sound like the pros.
I love the low recorders so much! As a flute player myself who owns an alto flute and loves playing it, I definitely appreciate the beauty of low recorders. There’s just that incredibly encompassing resonance that feels like it’s coming from inside the earth itself, it’s addictive both to listen to and to play!
I so wish I could come to the concert this Saturday because I’ve listened to and adored BLOCK4’s music for a while now, but unfortunately I’m working :( please keep doing more wonderful recorder concerts!!!
as a clarinet player , i dont own a contrabass clarinet, even thought that instrument is taller than i am. That instrument can play some deep notes indeed. I play the contrabass clarinet in a local wind ensemble and somehow i can handle it .
Amazing! I can't even get a tenor to produce consistent notes! What a spectacular instrument. And frankly, I expected the cost to be several times that. Thanks for the video.
Nice to see a "normal"contrabass, too, not only the Petzolds (nothing wrong with them, of course)
4000€ seems way more affordable than I expected. Lol
Indeed the modern kung subbass costs 2k more.
It's not that shocking. Try buying a decent bassoon, or contrabassoon and suddenly it would seem pretty affordable 😂
Someday I'll get a Küng contra. I don't have money or space for multiple contras and I'd rather have one that can do anything over a situational one.
For a Contrabass absolutely.
I love your explanation of the hole placement.
Another way to think of it, from an acoustical engineering standpoint, is that this recorder only has two "holes", call them "meta holes", and the cluster of various size holes at those two locations correspond to various degrees of partial coverage of the meta holes.
Brilliant video as ever. Thanks, Sarah.
This instrument sounds amazing! Such a sweet tone! I love all of the recorder family, but I particularly love the gentle sound of the low ones. :) Stellar playing!
About how loud would you say that it is?
Incredible! I had no idea these things existed. What a beautiful instrument. ❤
This is one of the most beautiful things that makes "huh huh" besides eagle owls.
I don‘t know, what to celebate more: the amazing video or your hilarious comment!
Such a beautiful instrument! The bass family are my favorites, though I only own a bassett myself. I've been hoping you would do a deep dive on this! It's really interesting to see all that craftsmanship up close.
For a moment I thought that stick was a garklein recorder. They're about the same size.
Nice to get a good look at one of the really big recorders and see melodies played on it. The largest recorder I've seen in person is a basset. I play that size - there isn't anything locally I could play a recorder larger than that in anyway.
Absolutelly beautiful instrument!!
this is cool, i would never thought something that big could sound so smooth and eloquent
Beautiful presentation! Thank you.
Thanks, Sarah, love your honesty, keep it real!
Always been interested in the contrabass recorder and, primarily being a tuba player, I have picked up a few other bass instruments from bass guitar to bass ocarina and have been contemplating a bass clarinet. Alternatively, I've been considering adding a smaller F Bass Tuba (vs my typical contrabass BBb tuba), which I guess is relatively in the range of that contrabass recorder despite having an uncoiled tube length of 3.7 meters.
Thanks for all your great videos. I love recordermusic - and im i choirsinger. I mostly sing in the range of this recorder, and its fascinating to see how a recorder produces sounds in this range. On such a large instrument one really can see how hole placement, size and angling of the holes plays together to make a practical hole layout and its new to me that the placement can be varied so much.
Interesting sound. I can well imagine that it would be difficult to play. Thanks for taking it apart and explaining a bit about the history of the instrument. That made the video even better.
There had to be a Daphne here hahah good video!
thanks so much for showcasing this instrument.
The hole placement being so different that on smaller recorders must make the subtle intonation tendencies and response of this instrument very different even than that of other instruments from a matching consort. I guess the reason the bottom hole is not placed close enough to the others to avoid a key is that doing that would require it to be either so small that it wouldn't speak clearly when open, or so large that the finger couldn't cover it.
The low resonance of that beast is beautiful! The polished wood is stunning - what type of wood was this one made from?
"I need a home with a higher ceiling; my recorder won't fit in."
Front door with a "Mind Your Recorder" sign on it?...
Brilliant!!! Thank you for sharing. X
I have played this size recorder, but in the modern version by Paetzold (now made by Kunath) which was very fun indeed. Since I also play low reeds I'm used to the amount of air required but when you have a reed it helps you to not use all the air at once! If I had the money to spend on it, I would definitely have at least a great bass in C and probably one of these as well.
This needs to be played alongside a theorbo! 😁
I second that. 🎵
Thanks for including the bit where you were still figuring out how to get the music to come out loudly without puffing and blowing sounds. Because you are an expert at making awesome noises come out of recorders, I kind of forgot that your lungs are like a pair of living-bagpipes that you are trying to quietly fill up and empty, while tooting notes through the recorder holes.
Do you think that people have to get to a certain age to be able to have enough puff for an instrument like this?
Wow, what a beauty 😍
As a bass guitar player, I want one! 😎
Thanks for an interesting vid. Jim Bell (Australia)
Lovely little instrument🎉
Wishing you the best for your concert tomorrow in Amsterdam! I wish I were there, but the trip from France is little too much 😬
Very interesting!
When Prescott (recently retired from recorder making) was selling his recorders, his "Great Bass in F" Renaissance recorder went for $10350 (this is from his price list online). For comparison, his basset in f went for $5200 and soprano for $1875.
A brilliant review as usual. Thank you. Have you ever reviewed the Takeyama recorders? I looked but couldn't see one. I'd be interested in your opinion! 😀
If memory serves Praetorius' recorder pitches were F, Bb (!), f, c', g', c'' or d'' for the soprano and g''. So that's a mix of quint and octave relations. He might have looked at a couple of different large consorts to arrive at this list. I have heard of an Italian large consort tuned in F, c, g, d', a' & e''. But I wonder if there really were consorts tuned in just two pitches, whether c & f or d & g like Kynseker (if memory serves!). This would facilitate octave doubling of parts as Mersenne suggests and Royal Wind Music, etc., does now.
On a completely different subject, the mouth of your contrabass seems surprisingly small in proportion to the instrument's circumference. This would tend to soften it. Did any builders then or now give wider mouths, or does that just make it too hard to play?
Thank you for this. I have two questions. 1.What is the wolf? 2. Could you make purchasing a livestream of the concert available for people living outside the performance country?
A "wolf" is when the tone has some unwanted vibrations.
Contrabass recorders during the Renaissance? A photo or it didn't happen.😅 I'd love to hear the chromatic scale with one or two seconds of held notes and a slight space between notes... so I could make a sample library! Great stuff as always!
Was there much music written with a recorder of this range in mind?
Can you tell me, how heavy this instrument is?
Great video, as always! I enjoyed watching it, verry informative!! Have a great Christmas season!!
3:37 I wish I wasn’t so childish
I've never played one of these, but it seems fairly quiet in this recording - how is the volume generally? Is it quieter for its size than we would expect?
I suspect that this recorder is a challenge to record faithfully. For one thing being so large, the place were the sound eminates from changes based on the number of fingers being used, which makes a big difference if the mic is close to the instrument. Using the same setup for her speaking and smaller recorders would be challenging for this larger one.
wow soo cool!
I have tried the Paetzold Contrabass. Really interesting. But I dont need to play it more often.
You could try bell-stopping notes with your foot, Sarah! 😉 Come to think of it, perhaps that ain't such a daft idea, with a bit of thought...!
Wait i went to that concert without knowing who she was then now I’m watching her saying that she was in the concert
a rare beast
What is the melody at 0:50 ? I can almost place it. It sounds a little like Leib Nachtigall Wach Auf, but not quite. Or does it sound off because it's a harmony and not melody?
That's the same wolf tone as the cello gets, around G, G#
I don't think I've ever seen/encountered a (keyed) Renaissance recorder that permitted the low F# -- is there really no rep that would use that note? Am I missing something?
im surprise how good it sound ... often over sized instrument sound not good to me
Love this recorder ... only in my dreams because is too expensive (for a mexican player like me, he he)
wooowowowooooo!
i love it ❤
One needs another set of lungs to play that thing!
That is uuuuuge. 😮
Wauw
3:02 Just like low saxophones, clarinets, and brass instruments. 🤓
3:12 If this can be made keyless for its size, it has me wondering if the modern Great Bass In C could also be made without keys? 🤔
You should get a bigger camera
😂Haha you are very funny
you got to have a fisheye lens for those monsters 😄
Great vid! Is it possible to do circular breathing on this instrument? What a rich low register, wonderful 🤍
is it pitched a bit higher? To me F sounds like F sharp. Oh now I see 6:02
How come the lowest note sounds like F sharp (2:06) but is notated as an F?
It's at A=466Hz, so sounds a semitone higher than modern pitch.
It sounds almost like a cello crossed with a saxophone
How do you play F#2?
I'm surprised that these would be around 4000€ only
Because I just purchased a Küng greatbass recorder for about 3300€...
What is a wolf?
Groß-Bas = The big base, Höchdeutsch is literal.
Ok! I’m not the only one that gets dizzy ….😂.
Incredible, the lowest note sounds like a boats horn.
I blew into my treble recorder and instantly learned that the F on the contrabass is F# on my treble.
A466 is a higher frequency than A440. Sarah's F is my F# because of that.@@TonyBittner-Collins
@@TizzleVizzle I see what you mean. Her F sounds like an F# in your treble.
Please play Nepali song rato ra Chandra Surya
This is so funny.
TH-cam shorts would have the portrait mode to fit it in
You know things get real when the slippers are kicked off.
Apparently that is the equivalent of gloves in the musician world.
Huh. This is like 1.5x the size of a bass clarinet but about a fifth higher...
Does it sound weird when I say: When you play it it looks like you're holding and delicately kissing someone.
It's like spotting a blue whale in the wild
If you have asthma, I think it would be wise not to play this instrument
Great video as always, the sound of this beast doesn't appeal to me, I think there are instruments not really suited to play in that register and the recorder is one of them. Very much like an organ - the lowest notes never have a sweet timbre.