Ruders: Concertos [Transfiguration]

On this album, Poul Ruders combines three instruments with a long history with three new concertos. “Transfigurations” for recorders and string orchestra (2022) features Michala Petri exploring the entire recorder family—from tenor and soprano to alto and sopranino. In “A Movable Concerto” for organetto and strings (2023), Ruders combines Baroque-inspired minimalism and echoes of Dutch organetto music with contemporary soundscapes. At its heart is a Largo legatissimo in which time seems to stand still. The album concludes with the concerto for harpsichord and orchestra (2019), which was written for Mahan Esfahani and premiered by him with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra under Leif Segerstam.

The first two works are performed by Michala Petri and Peter Navarro-Alonso together with Kremerata Baltica under Andris Veismanis. With great stylistic versatility, Poul Ruders places the sonic characteristics of the three instruments in a contemporary context. The result is a program that does not treat historical instruments as museum pieces, but rather explores their possibilities for contemporary music.