5 stars: Self-recommending really, given the program's relaxing nature, and the calm beauty of Petri's and Nishiyama's playing

ON A GROUND • Michala Petri (rcr); Marie Nishiyama (baroque hp) • OUR 8.226927 (76:03)

CARR An Italian Ground. ANON Tollet's Ground. Greensleeves to a ground. FARINEL Faronells Ground (Folia). ORTIZ 8 Recercadas. A. MARCELLO Oboe Concerto in d: Adagio. BACH Harpsichord Concerto in F, BWV 1056: Largo. The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude in C. HANNIBAL Dreams. Sunset Dance. Twilight on a ground. Waves – on a ground. SATIE Trois Gymnopédies. GLUCK Orfeo ed Euridice: Dance of the Blessed Spirits and Melody. BACH/GOUNOD Ave Maria

This program was recorded in December 2019 while Michala Petri was performing in Japan, shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. I don't know why it has had to wait so for long for its release on CD. There is never a wrong time, though, for a program as enjoyable and relaxing as this one is. Simply put, it makes you feel good. So, what if it makes few demands of the scholarly sort?
The booklet note explains that “The element of repetition is one of music's most universal traits.” Continuing, “Whether as a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody, this simple formula is truly common ground to every musical culture on the planet, and has been called many different names: ostinato, chaconne, passacaglia, and of course, ground.” Furthermore, repetition and patterns are comforting, because they restore a degree of predictability to our lives. Things that have happened before tend to happen again. Yes, there are times when we want to be surprised, but at other times, as Holiday Inn hotels used to say, “the best surprise is no surprise.” Repetition and patterns are intrinsic to the works on this CD. Also, the works themselves are in many cases, familiar, or at least the tunes are. Faronells Ground, by Michel Farinel (1649-1726) was new to me, as was the composer, but I immediately recognized the Folia melody, which has been the subject of variations by more famous composers such as Vivaldi and Corelli.
Even the combination of recorder and harp is comforting because there have been precedents (admittedly inexact) in the recent past, such as flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal's albums and recitals with harpist Lily Laskine. It is always nice to hear Michala Petri play older music because that was the music in which many of us were introduced to her. As the cliché goes, she needs no introduction. Marie Nishiyama has not appeared in Fanfare previously, though. It appears that she might be better known as a harpsichordist, but her playing here on the harp is really lovely, and temperamentally in sync with Petri's. The fact that most of this music was not composed for recorder and harp is easy to forget. (I am guessing that Lars Hannibal's four dreamily atmospheric and peaceful works are the only music conceived for this combination of instruments.)
The label does not share information about the instruments used, but as I already mentioned, this isn't a scholarly program, and I expect it doesn't matter to most listeners anyway. (I bring it up only in the vain hope that it will make me seem smarter than I really am.)
Listeners who strongly believe that all music should be intimidating and difficult, and that it must make them feel stressed, might not like this program. That seems like an awful way to live, however. In the end, On A Ground does not defy analysis as much as it makes it unnecessary. Don't pull the petals from a rose. I think almost all of Fanfare's readers will enjoy this, and take healing and comfort from it. Raymond Tuttle