BABELL: CONCERTO IN C, OPUS 3, NO....

BABELL: CONCERTO IN C, OPUS 3, NO. 1; HANDEL: CONCERTO IN B- FLAT, OPUS 4, NO. 6; BASTON: CONCERTO NO. 2; JACOB: SUITE FOR TREBLE RECORDER AND STRINGS. Michala Petri, descant and treble recorder; Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Kenneth Sillito. Philips 6514 310 (digital). Petri, demonstrably the finest virtuoso to happen to the recorder since Frans Brueggen, lavishes her impeccable breath control, delicate tone and strong rhythmic instinct upon the obscure mid-18th-Century Babell and Baston works, makes a passable case for the transcription of the Handel concerto, and then simply shines in Gordon Jacob’s suite. The latter seems a remarkable job of re-creating a Baroque atmosphere in 20th-Century harmonic terms and contemporary dance forms (no listener should forgo the pleasure of hearing a recorder launch into Jacob’s “Burlesca alla rumba”). Sympathetic accompaniments.