Recorder virtuoso Stefan Temmingh in top form

Recorder virtuoso Stefan Temmingh in top form

Stefan Temmingh, considered one of the foremost recorder players in the world, will be arriving in South Africa this week to embark on his first national concert tour of the country. His tour includes a performance with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra where he will premiere a new recorder concerto by Hendrik Hofmeyr, recitals with acclaimed German lutist Axel Wolf and a concert with organist Zorada Temmingh. He studied with Markus Zahnhausen and with Prof. Michael Schneider in Frankfurt. His debut CD “Corelli à la mode” was celebrated by the international music press in 2009, while his second CD “The Gentleman’s Flute” was immediately nominated for the International Classical Music Awards 2011. Since then, Stefan is regularly compared to the legendary Frans Brüggen.

South African composer Hendrik Hofmeyr has written a new concerto for you. How did you collaborate during the creative process of the work, which will have its world première at the Hugo Lambrechts Auditorium on 17 February?

ST: We corresponded quite often and Hendrik asked me: “Can you do this, can you do that?” I always answered: “Yes, after hours of practice everything is possible!”

Playing a world premiere is a bit like preparing a new recipe for a dinner party. Sometimes you know the cook who invented it (or in our case the composer) from his other recipes, sometimes you even know him personally and sometimes you have never heard about him. I grew up with the name of Hendrik Hofmeyr, and I can remember my father speaking of him as a “very gifted composer”. While practicing his piece I thought at first: “These are really lots and lots of notes!” But I actually like all of them and the concerto is masterfully composed and very beautiful.

But let’s gets back to our dish for the dinner party: Playing a world premiere is no Spaghetti Bolognese (for a recorder player that would be a Telemann Sonata)! In fact it’s not actually cooking, it’s more like baking! As baking - in this case playing new music - requires an enormous degree of precision. Whereas cooking - like baroque music - always has a degree of freedom: adding a little of this and a dash of that is part of the creative process. Adding ornaments and ideas is even essential to the baroque style.

At the moment I am preparing the dough for Hofmeyr’s cake. This dough requires excessive kneading! The piece is indeed highly demanding for the soloist. In Cape Town, the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra is going to provide a delicious icing and Hans Huyssen (conductor) and myself are going to serve the cake on a tray.

How many recorders do you have and what is the difference between them?

ST: To be honest I don’t know! It’s a bit like asking a chef how many bowls or spoons he has in his kitchen…I’ve lost count.

With how many recorders do you travel when you are on tour?

ST: It depends on the programme and sometimes I play different programmes in a row. That of course demands even more recorders. I only have to count them exactly when I play concerts in Switzerland - they are still not part of the European Union – Swiss precision demands that I know exactly how many recorders I have with me.

Are there many recorder makers?

ST: Yes, but very few good ones. Funnily enough almost all my recorders are Swiss-made! This small country is renowned for its excellent watches. Making a watch demands great precision, just like building a recorder.

Which technical aspects distinguish a good recorder from a bad recorder?

ST: A good recorder has a great variety of overtones, intonates perfectly and reacts very fast on different tonguing techniques. It’s also important that the recorder is stable, some recorders sound divine when it rains and horrible when the sun shines - that can be a nightmare. A good recorder also does not clog. I also love loud recorders.

Are antique recorders necessarily better than new recorders?

ST: Not at all. Playing a recorder actually damages it a bit over the years, due to the condensed water that builds up inside the instrument. This results in most antique recorders having the shape of a banana and the intonation is terrible.

What kind of wood is used for making recorders and does the type of wood influence the sound?

ST: Yes, the wood has a great influence. For Renaissance recorders I prefer maple wood, which has an “open” sound, and for baroque recorders I choose European boxwood, which is very hard and stable, but still has a flexible sound. Darker woods like ebony or grenadilla tend to sound rather “harsh”, but soprano and sopranino recorders are excellent in these black woods.

Are wooden recorders still hand-crafted?

ST: Yes, mine are! Recorders from the major recorder factories are not, but they are not interesting for professionals to play.

How are recorders tuned?

ST: It’s rather simple. If a note is too flat you simply enlarge the hole underneath the note and when it’s too sharp you make the hole underneath it a little smaller with wax. More complicated is the tuning of the octaves, where you need to change the bore.

Most people think of the recorder as an instrument to introduce children to music tuition. Do you get funny responses when you tell them what your profession is?

ST: Yes…mostly they say “I also played it”, which is like telling Michael Schumacher “I also drive a car”.

Are you a member of any existing ensembles or do you collaborate and perform mostly on an ad hoc basis with ensembles and orchestras?

ST: I have my own ensemble, and mostly choose with whom I play. In the next year the most exciting collaborations are with Hille Perl (viola da gamba), Rolf Lislevand (lute) and Dorothee Mields (soprano). In Europe the core of top early music specialists is very small, we all know each other! As a soloist with orchestra it is of course the orchestras or conductors inviting me.

As a specialist of Early Music your repertoire comprises the complete baroque literature for recorder, but your commitment also stretches to modern music. What have been the most significant new works commissioned and or performed by you in recent years?

ST: I work a lot with composer Enjott Scheider, who wrote a number of pieces for me. But many other composers, especially of the young generation, simply gave me new pieces. I actually need more concerts to perform all these pieces, but finding an audience for new music is usually a problem. I have a very exciting project coming up in 2014. ChorWerk Ruhr has commissioned composer Moritz Eggert to write us a piece. The combination of choir and recorder is really beautiful.

What challenges do modern works pose on a technical level, in comparison to older repertoire?

ST: Oh gosh, many! It depends on the piece. Due to the fact that all new compositions try something new you can’t just replay patterns that you know. You have to learn new ones step by step.

Please tell us more about your collaboration with the lute player Axel Wolf, with whom you will be performing “The Brocken Melody” around South Africa.

ST: Axel is one of the world’s best lute players and a very exciting musician to work with. As a young boy he played in a rock band. This freedom is still in his heart. When he plays basso continuo he never plays the same thing twice! That makes playing with him absolutely thrilling. We have being playing together for years now. We also share a love for good food and wine - we are going to have great fun in South Africa!

For more information on Stefan’s tour, click here.

Published 11.02.2013
Interview by Christien Coetzee Klingler

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