Ms. Petri is one of the finest solo recorderists working today. She has produced a dozen or so CDs in the last 20 years that cover the solo repetoire from the early Baroque to modern day. Her technique is flawless, her speed is incredible, but some say her playing lacks emotional power and warmth. I think she may be a victim of less than excellent sound engineering on some of those CDs.In the last few years she has worked with her husband, guitarist Lars Hannibal and produced CDs that look away from the traditional sources and take the recorder into new areas (new to us at least - the notes present evidence that the recorder wasn't really dead in the 19th century, just disguised). Listening to duets after hearing concertos takes a little getting used to. This is quiet, intimate music. No problems with the sound engineering here as far as I could tell.
The pieces on this album are all transcriptions and the liner notes discuss this honorable practice but don't go into enough detail about each selection. My favorite piece was the oldest one, a Baroque Ciacona that was probably a violin piece. I also greatly enjoyed her own variations of Mad Doss, a folk tune - after showing how fast she really is in the first few variations she demonstrates a number of unusual techniques like humming the tune and embellishing it at the same time, and a wonderful glissandi variation. Massenet's Meditation is right up there for me also.
On most of the tracks she uses a new alto instrument that doesn't sound like a Baroque instrument. I have one - I wish I could make it sound like she does. I think it has a much more flute-like sound in the lower register, and has a clean, clear upper register. She uses its greater dynamic range wonderfully.
I am a serious amateur player and listener. I was perfectly satisfied with this CD and intend to listen to it many more times. However, if you're looking for bubbly enjoyment with sonic surprises and variation, look elsewhere. This is solo recorder playing at a high level, no more and no less.
Picky details: I noticed a misspelling on page 2 and the instrument list on page 3 doesn't correctly identify which instruments are used on some of the tracks.
Get this and enjoy it!
