Customer Reviews

Michala Petri - Scandinavian Moods

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The moment I saw the title of the new RCA Victor release <Scandinavian Moods> (74321679502), I knew that I was bound to love it. When it arrived, the smiling face of Michala Petri confirmed my prediction even more, since I learned to love this master of the recorder years back when I enjoyed her Vivaldi and other Baroque concerts. To cut to the chase, grab this one!

With a 58:10 minute running time, it offers 20 cuts of Scandinavian music, including two sung by baritone Bo Skovfus, featuring Petri as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, James Judd conductor. Drawing upon music from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, the producers have mixed folk tunes with classical and modern selections to give us a very beautifully thought out and executed program of music, some of which is quite familiar ("Morning" from "Peer Gynt" and Alfven's theme from his Swedish "Midsummer's Vigil") and most of which is quite unfamiliar to this listener and all the more welcome for that.

A superior offering and (again) a definite Grabbit.

To be honest, I only heard a few selections from this CD on the radio. The music is haunting.

You will be captivated, for example, by selection #17: Elegiac Melodies (2) for Strings, Opus 34: no 2, Last spring, composed by Edvard Grieg. This is a very effective orchestral setting of a well-known Grieg song which, in my opinion, is one the most beautiful songs ever written.

The combination of Michala Petri on the recorder with the London Philharmonic Orchestra is quite marvelous.

The moment I saw the title of the new RCA Victor release <Scandinavian Moods> (74321679502), I knew that I was bound to love it. When it arrived, the smiling face of Michala Petri confirmed my prediction even more, since I learned to love this master of the recorder years back when I enjoyed her Vivaldi and other Baroque concerts. To cut to the chase, grab this one!

With a 58:10 minute running time, it offers 20 cuts of Scandinavian music, including two sung by baritone Bo Skovfus, featuring Petri as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, James Judd conductor. Drawing upon music from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, the producers have mixed folk tunes with classical and modern selections to give us a very beautifully thought out and executed program of music, some of which is quite familiar ("Morning" from "Peer Gynt" and Alfven's theme from his Swedish "Midsummer's Vigil") and most of which is quite unfamiliar to this listener and all the more welcome for that. The lyrics to the two songs are given in the booklet but not translated.

A superior offering and a definite Grabbit.

Michala Petri - Scandinavian Moods

Michala Petri and the recorder are nearly synonymous terms. Her mastery of Scandinavian music reflects all the moods of northern Europe. We ordered several copies of this CD, giving one to a friend who then played her CD for a Swedish friend. On hearing the Swedish song "Ach, Värmeland," her friend began to cry, so perfectly had Petri captured the melancholy of the music and the land. Another selection reflected the sabbath aloneness of a young woman spending the summer herding flocks in the high mountains of Norway. Petri moves easily from the lyrical Grieg to the modern Nielsen, carrying us to places filled with both melancholy and joy.

I love Michala's playing and music. This CD is a fine example of her works.

Michala Petri, what a wonderful CD, its a weekly favorite in our home. If you like the flute, this should be on your play-list for easy listening. As a Danish / Scandinavian living in California this CD brings a feeling of home. Highly recommended.