Recorder Magazine (UK)
This CD is an intriguing partnership of the well-established and renowned Danish recorderist Michala Petri, with the young Iranian harpsichordist, Mahan Esfahani. They both work fantastically together as a team on this CD and yet it is amazing to read in their detailed programme notes that they had only first performed together a year before this recording. This is most appearent in the Allegro second movement from Corelli`s Sonata in G-Major (op.5 no.11) Her both performers seem to be having fun with the vibrant virtuosity and precision. This contrasts with the next movement in the sonata, Adagio, where the coulor and mood change immediately with the discordant suspended chords from the harpsichord under an emotionally raw and passionate recorder part. Her Petri is at her finest with fluid trills and scales swopping to high suspended notes with the Harpsichord which is breathtakingly beautiful. In fact, the ornamented slow movements on the CD display Petri and Esfahani`s virtuosity and teamwork just as much as the flashy and seemingly more difficult movements. The Sarabande-Largo of the Sonata in G minor (op. 5 no.7) is exquisitely played with piercingly simple recorder line that is hauntingly sonorous and melancholic, accompanied by contrasting rich and Spartan spread chords that are so carefully placed and together with Petri that Esfahani seems almost telepathic with her.
There is something for everyone in this recording such as raucous and mad La Follia to the joyous and song-line optimism of the opening Prelude-Largo of the Sonata in C Major (opus 5 no.9). Petri and Esfahani are certainly a “dream team” and I look forward to more collaborative recordings from them in the future. Petri and Esfahani are certainly a “dream team” and I look forward to more collaborative recordings from them in the future, Spring Issue 2016