I`m looking for an alto recorder at the moment and found myself in a Yamaha shop today. Strangely, they wouldn`t let me audition the plastic instruments, only the wooden ones. [I would have expected the exact opposite.] My plan had been to do a "wood vs. plastic" shootout with a YRA-61 against a YRA-314B, but I ended up with the following instead:-

YRA-44, straight windway, European maple
(photo) http://www.yamaha.co.jp/edu/catalog/e/photo/e_yra44.gif

YRA-61, curved windway, Boxwood (and almost 3 times the price!)
(photo) http://www.yamaha.co.jp/edu/catalog/e/photo/e_yra61.gif


I should probably mention that I`m a recorder rookie with no prior experience of altos or curved windways, and I`m still looking forward to the day when I get my first woody. [Um, that didn`t quite come out right, but you know what I mean :-]. So, the following may not be useful at all, but here are my impressions anyway...

The 61 made a cold start and didn`t want to play its lowest notes. Within a couple of minutes things improved but the low end was still very weak. Moving up through the lower octave I found a sweet spot on the D, by which I mean a note which makes a smooth transition to a rich tone when overblown, and you can really feel the instrument resonating. Power was good from there up into the second octave, accompanied by a mild and pleasant buzz.

The 44 likewise hesitated when cold but got going quicker and was much more solid in the low register than the 61. The tone of the 44 might be described as plain and clear, still sweet to the ear but not rich like the 61. However, the 44 has a nice consistency of tone and power across the range. To play a descending scale with a crescendo on the 61 would require a lot of skill, but I think even I could do it on the 44. One quirk of the 44 was that the C# in the lower octave seemed to be very sharp indeed, almost a quarter of a tone high I`d say.



At this point I won`t be buying either of these instruments. The 44 seems reasonably priced but I would sooner get a plastic model with the curved windway to develop some technique in that area before moving onto a wooden instrument. The 61 seems to have more potential but I`m not really qualified to evaluate it yet and I`m concerned that the low register may not develop sufficiently even when the instrument is played in.

If anyone has any comments on the above or suggestions please respond!

PS: I`m hoping to audition an Aulos A709B next (the plastic Haka).