Adams et al use period instruments, whereas Petri plays recorders at modern pitch to which Jarrett's harpsichord is cranked up. Both soloists take an improvisatory approach. In Petri's case it was engendered by her contact with Jarrett, whose other 'face' is jazz-musical (an excellent escale en route to baroque music), and Adams shares Landowska's view: ''You [the composer] gave birth to it... but now leave me alone with it. You have nothing more to say—go away!'', a statement on which Handel and others are unavailable for comment. Petri's album, simply titled ''Sonatas'', has only those designated for the recorder: Op. 1/2, 4, 7, 11 and the two Fitzwilliam sonatas in B flat and D minor, appending the two separate movements from the same source and in the same key. Adams's ''Recorder Sonatas'' omit Op. 1/4 and the Fitzwilliam in B flat but include Op. 1/5 and the Brussels Sonata in D (both for traverse flute, the latter played on a tenor recorder in D—'voice flute') and HWV359a (a violin sonata in Handel's own arrangement for recorder). Archivists may relax: the showpiece arrangement of The Harmonious Blacksmith variations by Wilson and Ward Jones dates from 1966.
In his notes for RCA Eric van Tessel quotes Burney in support of the improvisatory approach to this music, and both soloists follow it with patent enthusiasm. Petri, for whom this represents a sort of musical coming-of-age, embellishes in good style and with marvellous freedom; no trace here of her erstwhile air of puppet-like, careful preparation. More, she has the technical armament needed to absorb her flights of fancy into her lines, fluently and naturally, no matter how high the striking rate. Adams too adds a great deal of his own—sometimes, one feels, too much for the good of the music. It isn't just that he adds more notes than Petri (though his embellishment is often overly fussy) but, rather, that he does not deliver them as effortlessly, so that one is often more conscious of the trimmings and of the difficulty of attaching them to the fabric.
Basso continuo opens the door to a third, bass-line instrument and Adams has a cello—which is placed obtrusively forward in the recording; a chamber organ replaces the harpsichord from time to time, which adds variety. However, if Beach had been more inventive in his realizations the nett effect might not have been so turgid and plodding. The limelight is uncompromisingly on the recorder, whereas Petri and Jarrett seem more like partners, reacting to one another in close rapport and in no need of additional support. If you must choose, go for Petri/Jarrett, but if your pocket is deep enough then get both; there are many hours of enjoyment to be had in comparing the ornamentation—and finding how differently it is conceived by two virtuoso recorder players, and in eavesdropping on the conversations between Petri and Jarrett. The clarity of both recordings leaves nothing to be desired, but RCA should know better than to identify the sonatas by no more than their keys—and to omit mention of the final Allegro of Op. 1/11 (HWV367a).'