The student played the suite movement beautifully. A real eighteenth century French pitch voice flute would almost certainly have different qualities to a 20th century modern pitch tenor in c', but it is still fascinating for players to realise how recorders take on different and unexpected roles at different relative pitches. Some recorders are made at the specific pitches of surviving historical instruments, such as altos in f' at A404 or A410. In this 'mode', many of the sharp keys become fluently accessible without consistently tricky cross-fingerings, such as E major, A major, B minor, C sharp minor. Composers of course may have intended to exploit the particular tone qualities of 'difficult' keys.
Many interesting possibilities exist with the more unusual recorders.
This instrument also functions as an Eb alto at A440. I think that this instrument is the most 'perfect' of all recorders in terms of size, weight, feel, tone quality, timbre and flexibility. It has the depth of the voice flute but the bright response of an alto. Australian recorder player Zana Clarke plays exclusively at A466 in her duo Nardoo . The Table below gives some idea of the diverse possibilities for recorders relatively at four different pitches.