Moeck 8421 Renaissance Tenor Reviews

A lovely instrument

I like the full sound of pre-baroque instruments so this works well for me on that score. It's very nicely made though the fitting of the metal band could be a bit more precise. It's hard to talk about features since, in a way, there aren't any and that is what you would expect. However, I've taken a star off because many renaissance tenors have a range of an octave and a seventh whereas this one only has an octave and a sixth. In fact, it's easy enough to get B-flat above top A, though the B is harder. Response is generally very good, though bottom D is relatively weak which spoils the bottom register a little. These are fairly minor niggles though. I like the colour, and the staining is excellent, very even and includes the tone holes and the labium which looks far better than many stained recorders. It's incredibly light and the finger spacing is pretty good for a keyless tenor. It's nice to be able to get a recorder with renaissance fingering - the only other option would be from a specialist maker and compared with that, the Moeck is a bargain.