The Art of the Recorder

• Main performer: Michala Petri
• Booklet languages: English, French, German
• Time: 186:05
• Release Date: 2007

Review

Denmark's Michala Petri has continued to dominate the modest but persistent recorder "scene" despite the emergence of a host of younger recorder players from the ranks of Dutch-trained historical-instrument specialists. Collecting a group of her 1970s and 1980s recordings, as has been done here, is an eminently justifiable enterprise, for it was these recordings whose laserlike intonation, whip-smart ornamentation, and all-around attractiveness that caught the attention of listeners in the first place. Petri uncovered and recorded a good deal of Baroque repertory for the instruments, recording it with the likes of England's Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Contemporary performances of the Italian concertos here may have a bit more zip, but actually the group serves as a nicely restrained foil for Petri, who can easily hold the spotlight all by herself. Her sheer technical facility continues to amaze in the little-known French works of the eighteenth century mixed in the program. About the only complaint is the short shrift given to contemporary music, which Petri has championed energetically, both in Denmark and internationally. Despite the inclusion in the booklet of an entire section devoted to the twentieth century, the only contemporary work included is Gordon Jacob's Suite for recorder and strings -- an explicitly neo-Baroque work that is not even typical of the music Petri has commissioned for the instrument. Nevertheless, all the music in this box is worth having and hearing. Listen to the sharp registral leaps in the Allegro molto finale of Vivaldi's Concerto in C for flautino, RV 443 (CD 1, track 3): nobody does these as crisply as Petri does. A nice resource for those who enjoy Baroque recorder music. ~ James Manheim, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Antonio Vivaldi	Piccolo (Flautino) Concerto, for piccolo (or recorder/flute), strings & continuo in C major, RV 443	10:43
Giuseppe Baldassare Sammartini	Concerto for recorder & orchestra in F major	12:37
Georg Philipp Telemann	Concerto for recorder, strings & continuo in C major, TWV 51:C1	15:22
George Frederick Handel	Organ Concerto in F major, Op.4/5, HWV 293	7:37
William Babell	Concerto for flute/recorder & orchestra in C major, Op 3/1	7:17
George Frederick Handel	Organ Concerto in B flat major, Op.4/6, HWV 294 (originally for harp)	10:50
John Baston	Concerto for flute/recorder, strings & continuo, No.2 in D major, "For Sixth Flute"	6:16
Gordon Jacob	Suite for treble recorder & string orchestra	18:48
Alessandro Marcello	Concerto for oboe, strings & continuo in D minor, SF. 935 (often transposed to C minor)	11:06
Antonio Vivaldi	Piccolo (Flautino) Concerto, for piccolo (or recorder/flute), strings & continuo in C major, RV 444	9:55
Georg Philipp Telemann	Concerto for recorder, strings & continuo in F major, TWV 51:F1	12:59
Jacques-Christophe Naudot	Concerto for flute (or recorder, hurdy-gurdy, musette, oboe) & strings in G major, Op. 17/5	11:12
Nicolas Chédeville	Sonata for musette (or hurdy-gurdy, flute, oboe, violin) & continuo in G minor (attrib. to Vivaldi, Op. 13/6)	8:38
Arcangelo Corelli	Sonata for violin & continuo in A major, Op. 5/9	8:43
Diogenio Bigaglia	Sonata for recorder & continuo in A minor, Op 1	7:52
Giovanni Bononcini	Divertimento da camera No. 6 for violin (or flute or recorder) & continuo in C minor, Op. 7/6	7:28
Giuseppe Baldassare Sammartini	Sonata for flute/violin/oboe & continuo in G major, Op. 13/4	9:33
Benedetto Marcello	Sonata for recorder & continuo in F major, SF. 765 (Op. 2/1 or in D major, Op. 1/1)	9:09

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