The notes cascade out of the speaker in an exuberant whirl. This is a musical universe where "vivace" means, not just "lively", but something of the order of "start like hell in the night, get in as many teasing, dizzying changes of tempo as possible, and finish with a whoop of joy". There are hints of gypsy violins, Moorish arabesques and flamenco guitar, underpinned by harpsichord playing that will make you gasp; and in the foreground, a sweet and speedy instrument which you vaguely recognise, but can't quite believe. The band is called Red Priest. The album is called Priest on the Run. The instrument is - oh, yes - a recorder.

Remember primary school, and dozens of damp attempts to master that tricky turn at the top of Three Blind Mice, with its dastardly difficult F sharp? Well, unlike the rest of us, Piers Adams got it right. And now he's proceeding not just to revitalise the recorder and its repertoire singlehanded but also, along with the three musicians who make up Red Priest (Julia Bishop, violin; Angela East, cello; Julian Rhodes, harpsichord), to revitalise baroque music as well, giving early music enthusiasts a thing or two to think about. "Sexy," was the Daily Telegraph's verdict. "Like crossing a Wigmore Hall recital with a Guinness-soaked session in an Irish bar," offered Classic CD. "Faint hearts," warned BBC Music magazine, "should prepare themselves."

Perhaps we should all prepare ourselves, for Red Priest - named after the flame-haired composer Antonio Vivaldi - kick off a Music Network/ESB tour in Listowel tomorrow night. Another touring chamber ensemble playing nice, polite baroque music on period instruments? Not exactly. "I never particularly enjoyed going to chamber music recitals," confesses Adams on the phone from Williamsburg, Virginia, "because I always got rather bored by the seriousness and stuffiness of the whole thing. The early music movement is also something which has been very serious - the idea that you should try to do exactly what the composer wanted, and so on. So although we're all trained in the subject of authenticity, we sort of throw the whole thing to the winds; we've absorbed a lot of the ideas, but we use them in a way that's much more modern."

Among other things this involves creative use of the stage, playing the entire programme from memory, a touch of choreography and some minor costume changes. "In terms of the actual sound, one of the aspects of early music which we really like is called rhetoric. That's when the music is given a lot of spontaneity, a lot of variety; so you're constantly changing the tempo, changing the mood," he says. "We also play to the strengths of some of the early instruments - the harpsichord, for instance, has a very percussive, rhythmic sound which our harpsichord player uses very strongly."

So how did Adams get past the Three Blind Mice stage? He chuckles. "It's all really down to my music teacher at school, who was one of the very few people at that time who were aware that you could take the recorder further. Even nowadays most people have no idea that it's anything other than a teaching aid." Not much emphasis on technique, or anything like that? "God, no. The teachers are usually one lesson ahead of the children - if that. But the chap who was head of music at my school had a whole collection of early music instruments, and it started from there."

Nowadays he plays anything up to 15 different kinds of recorder, all of which have to be specially made. "What you see is what you get with a recorder - it's basically a tube with holes in it. But there's a lot of finesse involved in the actual construction. My instruments are all hand made out of various hardwoods and take a couple of weeks or more to actually make from beginning to end."

The recorder has, in a sense, been untouched by history because it fell into disuse after the baroque period. Its rival, the flute, was regarded as more suitable for the ever-larger orchestra. Adams has been exploring the possibilities of the instrument, partly in terms of physical improvements, more in terms of the commissioning of new repertoire. "My instruments are loosely based on originals, but I've had them beefed up a bit for modern concert halls," he says. In general, however, he reckons recorders should be left as they are; "there have been various attempts over the years to create modern recorders with keys and so on, but in my opinion they don't work terribly well."

His solo forays into commissioning have been highly praised; David Bedford's Recorder Concerto, composed for Adams, was described by Hugh Canning of the Sunday Times as a "witty, beautiful, action-packed piece". "I've always felt the recorder has a very appealing and immediate sound," he says, "so I suppose I feel the music which is written for it now has to capitalise on that, and be very accessible."

Red Priest, however, is all about early music and the programme for the Irish tour includes two Vivaldi concertos, some Bach dances, a bit of Purcell and Telemann and a generous helping of Spanish 16th and 17th century pieces. And if the album is anything to go by, there'll be no danger of falling asleep during a Red Priest recital. But be careful . . . you may just fall off your chair.

Red Priest's Irish tour begins in St John's Theatre and Arts Centre, Listowel on March 8th and continues to Derry (University of Ulster, March 10th), Belfast (Elmwood Hall, 11th), Clifden (Church of Ireland, 13th), Letterkenny (Arts Centre, 14th), Newtownabbey (Ballyearl Leisure Centre, 15th), Bangor (Heritage Centre, 16th), Dundalk (St Nicholas's Church of Ireland, 18th), Manorhamilton (North Leitrim Glens Centre, 19th), Mullingar (Arts Centre, 20th), New Ross (The Courthouse, 21st) and Dublin (The Coach House, Dublin Castle, 22nd).