Vivaldi: Recorder Concertos; Handel: Recorder Sonatas

Piers Adams (recorder), Musica da Camera/Robert King, Howard Beach(keyboards), David Watkin (cello)Red Priest Recordings RP 008 ***

This set brings together recordings made by Piers Adams in 1988 and 1989, well before he founded the quartet Red Priest, on whose label they now reappear. Adams is a showman of the recorder. Theatricality is the order of the day in a selection of concertos by Vivaldi and sonatas by Handel, not all of which were originally written for his instrument. He delights in implausible-sounding agility, careering through fast runs in a way that can make it sound as if he is swiping an overlarge set of pan-pipes through his mouth. Adams provides variety byusing a range of instruments (sopranino, descant, treble and the one known as voice flute), and the continuo rings the changes between harpsichord and organ, too. Invigorating, though the slow movements prove limiting. See url.ie/6c45