Great German Recorders
(BAROQUE FINGERING)
 

Elida

ELIzabeth and DAvid Ward
Huddersfield, Yorkshire
Email or Phone 01484-428518

THE MODERN ALTO

MODERN ALTO ®
A recorder with an astonishing expressive range of variety of tone colours

The MODERN ALTO was first created in 1996 as a result of the collaboration between the recorder player Nikolaj Atarasov and the recorder maker Joachim Paetzold.

It is the first modern instrument based on the principle of the Harmonic Recorder with tuned overtones. It combines the vast knowledge of many different periods of recorder making, as well as building a bridge to the modern world.

It is a modern instrument, designed especially for the needs of the contemporary recorder player.

The powerful tone: strong enough to hold its own in an ensemble with modern orchestral instruments. The expressiveness of the lower register is phenomenal!

Its flexibility of tone: a magnificent alternative to the usual baroque or renaissance recorder sound, giving your performances a unique, individual voice.

The wide range: the greater length, characteristic of the Harmonic Recorder, results in an easy and sure attacked throughout the range up to cis[superscript]#4.

A new design based on familiar concepts: The MODERN ALTO is played with the usual "baroque fingering". A new fingering is needed for only the third octave. You can explore the instrument slowly, without having to abandon traditional technique.

Stability: The MODERN ALTO is fitted with a stable, non-expanding Synpor® block.

The E-foot - more than just an extra semitone

Through the elongation of the foot and the additional key the range is expanded downwards by a semitone to the low e[superscript]i.

Your choice of repertoire will be broadened considerably and the rendition of many transcriptions made possible, such as, Bach, Mozart and Schubert sonatas and most jazz standards/

In addition, the E-foot enhances the possibilities of the instrument in many other ways.

Range: almost three octaves (up to e[superscript]b4), with additional possibilities for fingering and trill combinations.

Sound and dynamics: the whole instrument gains in balance and dynamic stability, with the B as the first forked fingering in the basic scale.

Response: it speaks more easily in the third octave.

Included: detailed fingering chart and trill chart.

So much for what Mollenhauer has to say, but what does Liz say? Sounds like a big YES to me! -

“This is a recorder for the advanced player - Michaela Petri has played one in concerts for example - and is specifically for the playing of modern works, or for playing alongside orchestral instruments. Getting up to Grade 8 on recorder is relatively easy but as anyone who has attempted to get higher will be painfully aware, above that level the limitations of a baroque instrument begin to cause problems. How are you going to manage that third octave? Are you going to bring your knee up in the middle of a performance? Are you going to get a bell key fitted? Are you going to rely on the upward slur from top E to F# and just ignore the tongued requirement for that two octave G major scale? Is your repertoire going to be limited by the lack of a useable third octave? And what on earth are you going to do about dynamics?! Learn three sets of fingerings and put up with examiners' comments about intonation? Find a tame harpsichordist to remind the non-specialist examiner that recorders do not do dynamics? Avoid anything modern? Just put with constant griping from examiners about your lack of dynamics? If you are at the stage where these thoughts are causing you to lose sleep then you have probably already heard of harmonic recorders which have been developed for today's best players precisely to get round this sort of issue. Well, this modern recorder, first developed in 1996, would certainly have been on my shopping list if it had existed in the days when I was working for my LGSM!

“This is not the only recorder made for this purpose but it does have two very major advantages over its competitors - at least the ones I know about - firstly, it actually looks like a recorder and secondly, although it isn't cheap, it's nowhere near as expensive as some! Look at it logically - it's only about four diploma entry fees!!”

And you DO get a free bottle of recorder oil, a stylish plush lined hard case (worth £40 or more on its own), free postage and two guarantees (our own 14-day money back no quibble guarantee and Mollenhauer's 2-year guarantee.)

PRICES (including postage):
Model shown: Rosewood* - £650; Also obtainable: Pearwood - £550, Ebony - £850
*Also known by Moeck and others as Palisander.