Magical Michala
anmeldelse
D
David Hackett31. May 2024
Concert Review:
Michala Petri – Recorder
Lars Hannibal - Guitar
Haslev Kirke
Tuesday 28th May 2024
The recorder virtuoso Michala Petri is both a national treasure and international phenomenon. From almost the moment she began performing in the late 1960s, at a startlingly precocious age, her appeal has spread far and wide.
Growing up in Scotland, I first came across her through an old LP which belonged to my parents. If my memory is correct, the very first track was her signature piece, Jacob Van Eyck’s unaccompanied variations, Wat Zalmen op den Avond Doen – which start with such playful simplicity before launching into all kinds of virtuosic somersaults.
A few years later, working for a concert promoter in Oxford, I organized publicity for an appearance she was making at the city’s Sheldonian Theatre. I worked backstage at that concert, hurrying between various duties and at one point almost stepping on two recorders she had placed on some steps behind the performing area.
Now on a summer’s evening in Haslev, a sleepy, provincial town about an hour south of Copenhagen, I had an eagerly awaited opportunity to hear her once more. The free recital she gave in the town’s main church, along with her long-standing musical partner, guitarist Lars Hannibal, would prove to be a delight from start to finish, comprising a wide selection of pieces ranging from the Renaissance to the present day.
The older stuff mostly came first. After a JS Bach Sonata, were two trademark Van Eyck variation-sets – Prins Robberts Masco as well as the aforementioned Wat Zalmen op den Avond Doen, both from Van Eyck’s Der Fluyten Lust-Hof (Garden of Delights) collection. Though something of a white-haired veteran these days, it quickly became apparent that Michala had lost none of her youthful wizardry with these pieces, as she handled the most challenging passages with an effortless, spellbinding brilliance.
After keeping the Baroque theme with some Dowland and Vivaldi, we then jumped forward a few centuries to hear two of Lars Hannibal’s compositions: Evening in the Garden and Blue on a Ground. While the former seemed to invoke a gentle summer twilight (with Petri switching to a bass recorder to provide a haunting accompaniment with a series of low pedal notes), the latter combined a Renaissance-style ground bass, ornate flourishes on the recorder and more than a hint of Hispanic jazz.
There was then a set of variations on the Austrian melody "Gestern Abend war Vetter Mikkel da" by the pseudonymously named Carl Scheindienst (Scheindienst translates as “imaginary servant”) first published in 1815, and specially arranged by the two musicians. The Mozartian melody and frisky, high-spirited variations appeared to bring out Petri's most playful side.
Along with brief contributions from Keith Jarrett and Astor Piazzolla, two pieces towards the end of the concert were particularly striking – one was The Wagtail and the Cuckoo (from “Garden Party”) by Asger Lund Christiansen, with Petri hurriedly switching between small and large recorders to imitate the two birds, to increasingly comic effect. The other was an arrangement of the Danish song, Stille Hjerte, Sol går ned (Quiet Heart, Sun goes down) to Thomas Laub's1915 melody. Its mood of meditative serenity served as a perfect close to the evening.
Throughout the concert, Michala and Lars would preface each piece with a short explanation, generously filling their narrative with humorous asides. All of this helped the whole event feel less like a concert and more like a personal soirée, with those of us in the audience treated like warmly received guests.
Michala will next be performing at Vejby Kirke on June 30th, in a part choral concert including Danish songs. The next opportunity to see her and Lars together will be at Hundested Kirke on July 17th, playing a programme entitled “From Bach to Borup.”
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