For some reason, it hadn’t occured to me that the descant book was supposed to be easier! I have noticed that collections for descant tend to be less stratospheric in register than collections for alto, but that could be beacuse no-one reall wants to hear the highest register of the descant….
I don’t think it’s easy to play the high notes on descant. I’m finding the treble much easier to play – even hitting the notes in the higher register is easier. But when you hear someone truly skilled playing descant, it is wonderful. Bruggen, Petri, Bosgraff to name but a few. If you want to splurge some money get Anthology of the Recorder. It’s a boxed set and it is truly wonderful. It goes through whole swathes of the repertoire starting with Van Eyck. You’d love it!