Can anyone believe that Michala Petri is now 50 years old? Time is certainly beginning to pass me by more rapidly than I’d like to admit, but I was taken aback when reminded that she made her debut all the way back in 1969, and the career ever since has certainly approached legendary status.
Her playing doesn’t seem to have suffered much either, judging by this new SACD of stunning Mozartian revelry and extraordinarily rich surround sound. But why the recorder? I supposed one could be flippant and answer, “Because she is Michala Petri and wants to do it.” But even as the notes to this deluxe release admit, the recorder was well on its way out the door when these quartets were written, and the transverse flute had already replaced the instrument as the primary home wind instrument, fairly easy to play and featuring a more luxurious and subtle sound than the more piecing recorder. But, using the model that Mozart himself was a practical man and would have approved playing the pieces on recorder if there were a Thaler involved, we now have this very interesting and well-played (if not really definitive, only because of instrumentation) release.
It is not probable that these works were written either for commission or for initial publication, but for Mozart’s friends and colleagues. But the question remains as to the choice of solo instrument here. I must say that Petri does her dead level best not to remind us that this is a recorder by playing with a softer sound and using a variety of instruments. Nonetheless, for those who know the works well it will come as a slight shock to hear them played this way, though by the end you will have long forgotten about it and been completely swayed by the stunning musicianship and excellent rapport among these sterling colleagues... —
Steven E. Ritter, Fanfare, October 2008

Can anyone believe that Michala Petri is now 50 years old? Time is certainly beginning to pass me by more rapidly than I’d like to admit, but I was taken aback when reminded that she made her debut all the way back in 1969, and the career ever since has certainly approached legendary status.
Her playing doesn’t seem to have suffered much either, judging by this new SACD of stunning Mozartian revelry and extraordinarily rich surround sound. But why the recorder? I supposed one could be flippant and answer, “Because she is Michala Petri and wants to do it.” But even as the notes to this deluxe release admit, the recorder was well on its way out the door when these quartets were written, and the transverse flute had already replaced the instrument as the primary home wind instrument, fairly easy to play and featuring a more luxurious and subtle sound than the more piecing recorder. But, using the model that Mozart himself was a practical man and would have approved playing the pieces on recorder if there were a Thaler involved, we now have this very interesting and well-played (if not really definitive, only because of instrumentation) release.
It is not probable that these works were written either for commission or for initial publication, but for Mozart’s friends and colleagues. But the question remains as to the choice of solo instrument here. I must say that Petri does her dead level best not to remind us that this is a recorder by playing with a softer sound and using a variety of instruments. Nonetheless, for those who know the works well it will come as a slight shock to hear them played this way, though by the end you will have long forgotten about it and been completely swayed by the stunning musicianship and excellent rapport among these sterling colleagues... —this is a remarkable and enchanting disc of exceptional attributes.