Café Vienna is an interesting departure for Our Recordings, the label jointly run by guitarist Lars Hannibal and recorder virtuoso Michala Petri. Usually the focus, apart from the outstanding artistry of these musicians, is on contemporary and/or Baroque music, but this collection is centered in the early nineteenth century -- an important period for Hannibal's instrument -- and in Vienna's coffee culture that was raging at the time. For this program, Petri takes advantage of the busker's long tradition of adapting music ...
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Café Vienna is an interesting departure for Our Recordings, the label jointly run by guitarist Lars Hannibal and recorder virtuoso Michala Petri. Usually the focus, apart from the outstanding artistry of these musicians, is on contemporary and/or Baroque music, but this collection is centered in the early nineteenth century -- an important period for Hannibal's instrument -- and in Vienna's coffee culture that was raging at the time. For this program, Petri takes advantage of the busker's long tradition of adapting music not written for her instrument, such as that for flute or violin. However, in some cases the pieces here are written for instruments even more arcane than the recorder, such as the csákány in the work by Ernst Krähmer; therefore, Petri and Hannibal succeed in reviving music that would normally not be revived anyway. North American listeners will take great interest in Carulli's Fantasie sur un air national anglais, Op. 102, as the "air National Anglais" happens to be "God Save the...
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