“What kind of instruments are that?”

The recorder features a family of instruments in different sizes and sounds, and Quinta Essentia uses several recorders in their performances. The instruments are chosen according to their sound so as to get the best results at each new engagement. Playing copies of original musical instruments from various periods of Western music history is part of the research which Quinta Essentia is developing: a historically informed performance of music for recorder quartet, in addition to seeking different timbres, effects and technique, allied to the research and preparation of the contemporary repertoire for recorder.

The ensemble owns copies of Renaissance instruments: a consort of 9 recorders of different sizes ranges made by the British luthier Adrian Brown. They use copies of Baroque instruments of the 17^th and 18^th centuries made by luthiers from various countries (Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland, England, Canada, Japan and Brazil), and also modern instruments such as the Paetzold’s Square Recorders.

The square recorder is the result of research by the German makers Joachim and Herbert Paetzold. In the recorder literature there are instruments in different sizes that are usually cylindrical. Herbert Petzold developed square recorders similar to the corresponding cylindrical ones, based on organ pipes, since the pipes in this instrument work like recorders. There are organs in which the pipes are square and made out of wood, so starting from this principle, Paetzold made square recorders. The square recorders, relative to the corresponding cylindrical models, are smaller in length and have a faster response to the articulation, providing a big difference in the sound for playing modern, contemporary and Brazilian popular music. Nowadays, these instruments are made by Jo Kunnath

Besides square recorders, Quinta Essentia also uses other modern recorders such as the Helder, and Tarasov harmonic recorders, the Dream Recorders, and the Eagle Recorder. These instruments, which were developed with the aim of extending the historical recorder’s sound capabilities, feature mechanisms that permit perfectly smooth playing and even produce a change in timbre. Incredible instruments, they completely fulfill the needs of a robust yet at the same time a light and delicate sound, being designed to perform works of the 20^th and 21^st centuries with panache.

Baroque recorders A=442Hz

• Garklein – Kueng
• Sopranino Denner – Mollenhauer
• Soprano – Aesthé
• Soprano Denner – Mollenhauer
• Transitional Soprano – Doris Kulossa
• Soprano – Marcos Ximenes
• Alto Bressan – Etienne Holmblat
• Alto Denner-Edition – Mollenhauer
• Alto Marsyas – Kueng
• Tenor Bressan – Marcos Ximenes
• Bass YRB-61 SP – Yamaha
• Great-Bass YRGB-61 – Yamaha

Historical baroque recorders A=415Hz

• Sopranino – Roberto Holz
• Soprano Terton – Hans Coolsma
• Soprano – Takeyama
• Soprano – Roberto Holz
• Soprano 4th flute in B flat – Tim Cranmore
• G Alto Bressan – Etienne Holmblat
• Alto Denner – Doris Kulossa
• Alto Debey – Peter van der Poel
• Alto Denner – Roberto Holz
• Voice Flute Denner – Peter van der Poel
• Voice Flute Bressan – Roberto Holz
• Tenor – Takeyama
• Tenor 4th flute in B flat – Tim Cranmore
• Bass YRB-61 SP MJB-415 – Yamaha
• Great-Bass YRGB-61 MJGB-415 – Yamaha (special design for Quinta Essentia)

Renaissance consort Bassano A=466Hz – Adrian Brown

• D Soprano
• C Soprano
• G Alto
• G Alto
• F Alto
• C Tenor
• C Tenor
• F Basseto
• F Basseto
• Bb Bass

Modern recorders A=442Hz

• Modern Soprano – Mollenhauer
• Modern Soprano – Mollenhauer
• Modern Alto – Mollenhauer
• Alto Eagle – Adri Breukink
• Alto Helder (special version by Karel van Steenhoven 2015′) – Mollenhauer
• Electric Alto Elody – Mollenhauer
• Tenor Helder – Mollenhauer
• Tenor Superio – Kueng

Dream recorders A=442Hz

• Soprano Dream Edition – Mollenhauer
• Soprano Dream Edition – Mollenhauer
• Alto Dream Edition – Mollenhauer
• Tenor Dream Edition – Mollenhauer
• Bass Dream Edition – Mollenhauer

Square recorders A=442Hz

• F Basseto Paetzold/Kunnath
• C Great-Bass Paetzold
• F Contrabass Paetzold
• C Sub-Greatbass Paetzold