Csakan Do

One of the unfortunate things about that most well ... well, most often played of musical instruments, the humble recorder, is that the most famous and influential player from the 1960s and 70s sold the world on the idea that in order to play with varying dynamics that it was OK to play the thing sometimes painfully out of tune.  I could never stand hearing his many, ubiquitous recordings, some made with otherwise very fine musicians.  How they could stand to hear music played intentionally out of tune - and some of his recordings almost achieve the atonality of some of the most famously bad singers in history - I don't know.  THE THING CAN BE PLAYED VERY WELL AND IN TUNE.

When the very late development of the recorder, the csakan, began to be revived, it, unfortunately, was also often played seriously out of tune.  Which is unfortunate because, as players like Michala Petri showed, even the plain old recorder it didn't have to be a choice of playing in tune or playing with different dynamic levels if you used alternate fingerings to achieve different dynamics.

The most renowned player of the csakan was Ernest Krähmer (1795-1837), who was famous for his ability to play the instrument at a wide variety of dynamic levels.   He also wrote some of its most significant music.

One of the better players I've heard  playing the instrument on recordings is  Rubens Küffer who often plays with the romantic period guitarist Max Riccio, "The Biedermeiers".

Rubens Küffer gives a demonstration of his development of different dynamic levels on the instrument using alternative fingerings, with Krähmer's 18th study for solo csakan.

And here is another with,  explanation in Portugese with subtitles in on the  the 17th study.

Here is a recording of The Biedermeiers playing   Variations sur l'air "Gestern Abend war Vetter Michel da" by Carl Scheindienst.  

I have to confess, I know how annoyed it makes some people I love to annoy when someone, well, when I present unusual music and not so often heard from musical instruments into the discussion.  But it is interesting, especially to people who play a recorder or romantic era guitars or anyone who's interested in trying music by composers they'd never heard of before.  And this music was very popular in its time, in the same period when the more well known Viennese composers were active.  Beethoven may have played a csakan, he seems to have owned one in the form of a walking stick.  Flute walking sticks were, for some reason endearingly popular.  He must have been aware of it.   

Let me ask, how many of us knew that someone named Wenzeslaus Matiegka wrote a trio for csakan, viola and guitar?  I'd never heard of him until last night.