Michala Petri ~ Blockflötenkonzerte / Recorder Concertos

In the history of European music, the recorder - a very early wind instrument - achieved its fullest potential during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At that time, the models that were built included not only recorders corresponding to the registers of the human voice -soprano, alto, tenor, and bass - but also instruments in a number of intermediate, higher, and lower registers. The recorder was in general use in chamber and orchestral music, especially in Germany and England. From about 1700 on it encountered a strong rival in the transverse flute, whose more rounded and versatile tone suited the susceptibilities of the emergent Rococo period, and after 1750 it was ousted for many years from usual instrumental ensembles. For this reason it had only a limited opportunity to participate as a soloist in the concertante forms which had evolved in Italy. Even so, of the 16 flute concertos that Vivaldi wrote in all, six alone are for the recorder, three of these being for the sopranino. His Concerto in C does not merely sound idiomatic (by no means a foregone conclusion in music of that time), but also shows a sense of humor. There is much wit and high spirit in the way that the solo instrument, chirping inimitably in its highest register, is given extremely virtuosic material in the quick outer movements. Various concertos with occasional recorder solos as well as recorder concertos proper have also come down to us from the two Sammartini brothers, Giovanni Battista and Giuseppe. Giuseppe's concertos are relatively conservative in construction and combine polyphonic writing in the older manner with modern stylistic elements akin to those of the early Classical sinfonia.
Telemann wrote more than 20 concertos for the recorder, besides frequently using the instrument for prominent solo passages in his concerti grossi. A particularly bold venture was a double concerto in which he had the recorder and the transverse flute play together as equal partners. Italian influence is unmistakable in most of his concertos, but he was also thoroughly conversant with the modern manner of his day. Handel used the recorder in his chamber music and sometimes too in his operatic works for characterization or pictorial effect. His only concerto for the instrument

MICHALA PETRI

Born in Copenhagen, Michala Petri studied at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Hanover from 1969 until 1976. She made her first professional appearance with the Danish radio in 1964 at the age of eight and her debut as a soloist with orchestra in 1969 at the Tivoli. Since then she has given hundreds of concerts in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, West and East Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and Great Britain, many of them with her own trio, formed in 1969. Everywhere critics and public have acclaimed her astonishing virtuosity in a repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to Berio's "Gesti." Several leading Scandinavian composers have also written works specially for her. She received the Danish Critics' Prize of Honor in 1976 and the Nordring Radio Prize in 1977, and has twice been awarded the Jacob Gade Prize, in 1969 and 1975.

tracks
01. Vivaldi - Concerto in C-Major, RV 443 - I. Allegro (3:53)
02. Vivaldi - Concerto in C-Major, RV 443 - II. Largo (3:54)
03. Vivaldi - Concerto in C-Major, RV 443 - III. Allegro molto (2:56)
04. Sammartini - Concerto in F-Majore - I. Allegro (3:38)
05. Sammartini - Concerto in F-Majore - II. Siciliano (5:06)
06. Sammartini - Concerto in F-Majore - III. Allegro assai (3:53)
07. Telemann - Concerto in C-Majore - I. Allegretto (3:38)
08. Telemann - Concerto in C-Majore - II. Allegro (3:17)
09. Telemann - Concerto in C-Majore - III. Andante (4:24)
10. Telemann - Concerto in C-Majore - IV. Tempo di minuet (4:03)
11. Haendel - Concerto in F-Major - Op. 4#5, HWV 29 - I. Larghetto - Allegro (3:55)
12. Haendel - Concerto in F-Major - Op. 4#5, HWV 29 - II. Alla siciliana - Presto (3:42)
mp3, 320kbps, artwork

Vivaldi - Concerto in C-Major, RV 443 - I. Allegro