Banished for decades from the concert hall, the recorder once again came to the fore in the 20th century with the revival of early music. Germany and England were particularly welcoming of the recorder’s return to the brotherhood of instruments. Owing to its deliberate opposition to the grand, Romantic tradition, the recorder found favor among a highly diverse group of German composers representing an equally diverse range of styles ranging from Expressionism, Neue Sachlichkeit, and Neo-Classicism to self-consciously folk-inspired and faux Renaissance works.
Over the past decade, Michala Petri has engaged in an ambitious campaign to further extend the recorder’s presence as a thoroughly modern instrument capable of playing contemporary concertos. Numerous new compositions have been commissioned including works by composers from the US, Spain, China, England, Sweden, Denmark and the Faroe Islands. For this fourth installment in her contemporary “Concertos” project, Michala Petri has recorded the world premieres of works by composers from France, the former state of East Germany and modern Germany.
