BEEP Records
About us
We are aiming to produce wonderful flute records.
We are trying to explore the possibilities of extending the limits of the Flute, and to increase its repertoire by borrowing from the repertoire of other instruments, and to learn from the performance practices of other instruments, in order to make the flute accepted as being as a "Great" instrument, like the violin, cello or the voice.
We have a belief in the voice of the flute, and that it has the possibility of being at once a brilliant virtuoso instrument and at the same time being a true extension of the human voice in its range of colours and emotions.
William Bennett is constantly exploring various instruments to give different colours for different works, and has used instruments made from Gold, Silver, Nickel silver and Wood in his recordings.
In the time of Bach Telemann and Vivaldi, there were flutes of many sizes. The sonata in Eb by Bach was only properly playable on a flute in Eb (one semitone up from the usual concert flute in D) and there is a concerto of Vivaldi which necessitates the use of a flute in F ( a minor third higher the concert flute in D). This is the "Flute Tierce" which was much used in Military Bands, and was used in the Symphony by the Swedish Composer Berwald. It has a slightly higher tessitura than the normal Flute, with a subtly different colour, and is vastly more expressive than instruments in the fipple flute family. It is this that is employed in the Telemann Concerto in E minor.
On a technical and flutistic level, in order to push the boundaries further, William Bennett has made two new footjoints: - one for playing low D, C#, B and A (for the Mozart Basset Flute Concerto), and the other for playing low D,C,Bb and A (for the pedal flute used in the Bach double concerto) and has created a cylinder piccolo with low C and two revolutionary f# touch piccolos to obtain to especially difficult notes in the piccolo part in the Burrell concerto.
Here are some comments from BBC Music producer Edward Blakeman
