BLOCK4 Recorder Quartet - Beneath a Pale Moon (2024) Hi-Res

Welcome, weary travellers. Come close, and gather to the fire. This is a time for tales old and new, told by only the light of the pale moon as we wait for the crow of the cockerel and the dawning of another day. Come close, and listen to the tale I will tell, one full of magic and mystery. You see, not far from this fire there is a path, and not far from that path there is a field, and not far from that field there is a forest. A forest so tall the trees seem to touch the sky, a forest so deep it seems to stretch all of Christendom, a forest so green and lush that it seems to whisper to you with its very leaves. Everyone knows that a forest is a place of Magicks; a place of transformation and treachery; of lovesick wandering and charmed romance. In the woods, all are equal: prince and peasant boy, it is all the same to the trees and those who live amongst them.

Come close, and I will tell the tale of four travellers just like yourself: Draec, Ealric, Rowara and Veric.

All were brave. All were bold. All were loyal. All were true. But only one of them was heartbroken.

An interview with BLOCK4 Recorder Quartet:

“Beneath a pale moon” begins with four travellers wandering in a dark magical forest, trying to find Melody. Could you share the inspiration behind the tale and your collaboration with the writer, Essa Flett?

As an ensemble we have always been interested in combining old and new music in unusual ways. We think that this is so important so that we can truly showcase our instrument to audiences who often haven’t heard what the recorder is capable of before. For our debut album, we wanted to stay true to this vision, and also tie all of the music together with a thread. As an ensemble that was created in the UK, British folk tales seemed like a great place to start.

The storyline engages the audience in so many creative ways. How do you think the adventurous journey between these loyal companions enhances the music?

We often think of all of our repertoire as having an emotional narrative, and this affects the way we interpret our own repertoire and the way we programme. The storyline is our way of sharing this perception with the audience, so that they can share in our own inspiration for how we interpret our music.

You present a diverse program with “old and new tales”, medieval music from the 14th century, renaissance and contemporary works. What fascinates you about this combination, and what guided your choice of this particular repertoire?

Our mission as an ensemble is to showcase the diversity and capabilities of our little known instrument. We want to pull from all areas of the Recorder’s history in order to show how much versatility there can be. For this recording, we wanted to showcase some of our most loved repertoire from across our work as an ensemble, and particularly wanted to highlight our own arrangements, and works that were composed for us as an ensemble.

You also perform pieces written especially for you. Could you tell us more about your innovative collaborations and the importance of an ensemble like BLOCK4 in the new music scene?

We believe that as recorder players we should be adding to the ever growing repertoire of our instrument, and working with composers is the best way to do that. We have had the privilege of working with many composers as an ensemble, but we particularly liked the narrative structure of the pieces by Andrew Crossley and Mathew Olyver which lend themselves well to our programme.

Last, we see that many works were arranged by you. What is the process you follow, and how does this shape the creativity within the quartet?

As recorder players, we are very used to ‘borrowing’ music from other instruments and other genres or periods of music. The repertoire of the recorder is ever growing, but still small compared to other classical music instruments. When working in the narrative structure, if we could not find an existing piece of music that fit with the story in the way that we wanted, then we could create it ourselves! As historically informed performers, we do this in line with the way music of the renaissance and medieval periods would have been used at the time. We have lots of evidence that music of this period was treated in this way by musicians, and so when arranging we always stay true to the core of the music, while adding our own artistic flair. This is most audible in our three arrangements of ‘Stella Splendens in Monte’, a two part song whose original text describes a pilgrimage of travellers following a star. We have created three versions of the song that echo the journey of the travellers in our album, running like a thread through the recording as our travellers move ever onward.