Complete Wind Sonatas

"The quality of the musical invention in these sonatas often seems higher than you expect, and this may well be because the musicians involved seem so eager to convey their own enjoyment of them. Tempos are on the brisk side, notably in movements marked Larghetto or Adagio, and this contributes to the liveliness of the approach. Technical standards are very high indeed. The cellist, playing the lower of the usual two staves often faces difficulties of the kind more to be expected in a concerto, and he sometimes sounds as dazzlingly brilliant as the player on the top stave. There are five [sonatas] for flute, six for recorder and three for oboe; musically some are near-duplicates. The recorder Sonatas are most beautifully played; Michala Petri not only brings great skill to her music but gives it a sort of humorous gloss; she sounds unfailingly goodhumoured. All the other soloists contribute to the success of these records, in particular perhaps the cellist, Denis Vigay and the two harpsichordists. The ensemble is tightly controlled, so that in the slower pieces the players seem in full agreement over expression, and in the quick ones the brilliance of the playing can be irresistible."