Many years ago, on a visit to the late Paul Davies, I got to play on a late Baroque ivory flute very similar to the one which is the subject of this thread. I don’t recall it’s maker, if indeed it was stamped (and I tried a Cahusac oboe on the same occasion and have had to fight confused recollection… the oboe was definitely Cahusac…). It was in at least as good condition as this eBay one and was at A=c415. It was stunning to look at and to hold, and even with my very limited skills and no baroque flute experience or proper technique, I could tell it made a fantastic sound - warm, rich and responsive. I loved it but even then (about 25 years ago) it was worth about £4k according to Paul. (To put that in perspective, good R&Rs were pulling about £500-850-ish, IIRA.) That is to date my only and all too brief experience of playing an all-ivory flute - but it wouldn’t lead me to confirm Loren’s opinion about ivory as a flute body material and its tonal qualities. However, he has much more experience and skill in these matters than I can ever hope to have. One other counter-argument I would offer, though, is the lovely sound Stephen Preston and Lisa Beznosiuk got from two early C19th all-ivory flutes on that Amon Ra two Flutes album I often cite…
Hey, Jem, you’ve just pushed me into removing the shrink-wrap from a CD I got recently of Aldo Abreu playing Telemann on original recorders from the Von Heune collection (with which Loren’s surely familiar), including a performance of the E minor double concerto on ivory recorder and flute (played by Suzanne Stumpf)… so just about to stick that on and will let you know what I think!
Well, that’s a smashing performance of a favourite piece and the instruments sound great although I wouldn’t personally want the responsibility of caring for them. Excerpt from Aldo’s sleeve note as follows:
One of the recorders that I found most striking in its sound color was the ivory alto recorder by Scherer. This instrument, by the famous flute maker of Butzbach, Germany, is the only recorder in existence by him. When I discovered that Friedrich also owned two original ivory flutes by the same maker, I decided to include in this recording Telemann’s E minor concerto for recorder, flute, and strings using one of these flutes together with the recorder. The two instruments, played by Suzanne Stumpf and me, were beautifully matched.
Oh dear. I have that sinking Amazon feeling… and FRAD is kicking in.
Don’t think you’ll get it at Amazon UK (I ordered it from the CDBaby link on Aldo’s site), but think you’d like it (just listening to the fantasias now) even though that’s the only transverse flute recording on it.
Actually, it is on Amazon GB, but it’s expensive. It’s on Amazon US too. I listened to some of the clips on CDBaby - not awfully impressed on that basis, to be honest - sounds OK and interesting, but not compelling. Given the price, my ardour has cooled - and to be honest I’m not desperate to get the Telemann Fantasias on recorder rather than traverso. I’ve Wish Listed it…
Fair enough, Jem… can understand that when it’s mostly solo recorder, although (having just tried a few of the clips myself) I really don’t think they do its vivacity justice. That said, this vivid sound’s also slightly marred IMHO by what sounds like traffic and other low frequency noise in the background much of the time. But it’s also interesting to me in recalling Aldo as a highly-esteemed young player at Koninklijk Conservatorium (where I also studied with Michael Barker in 1986–7) and the only player I’ve ever heard really get Berio’s Gesti to ‘work’ as a continuous progression from aleatoric to fully-notated sounds.
Back to Loren’s dissertation - thanks for that!
I think it’s safe to say all organic materials, wood or bone, will have some fragility - whether that’s brought on by improper seasoning (of the drying variety, not spices), some unseen imperfection set to split eventually, like a ticking bomb, or general mishandling through the years. So, yeah, Delrin probably trumps wood or ivory for durability, but there seems to be some concession that certain woods have more reliable durability than others…
Jem and Peter’s observations fall well into the it’s-the-player, not-the-material camp. Who’d have figured?