DESCRIPTION:
A short piece for alto recorder* by Swiss composer Moser. 'Alrune' takes its name from the Old German word for 'Mandrake' ('Alraun' in Modern German), a plant often credited with various sinister and supernatural powers - see the film 'Pan's Labyrinth' for a creepy example...

It's a deceptively simple-sounding piece, based on a very limited theme of six notes, but it demands a very precise use of dynamics and articulation to suggest the idea of several intertwined musical lines playing at once.

This is an amazingly controlled performance, recorded in 1996 by Julia Whybrow.

* Moser says the piece can be played on an alto recorder at any pitch - Whybrow is using an alto in G tuned at a=460 Hz here, which is why it sounds a minor third higher than notated.

Apologies for the slightly badly timed page turns.