THE INSTRUMENTS
Completely devoted to free reed instruments and their history, collecting the old and designing new instruments has become a passion for Petri. Not contented with the limited tone quality of modern accordions, he constantly searches for the perfect sound from the old and foreign accordion cultures. His performances, both in live and studio settings, always produces fascinating surprises in sights and sounds of the rare instruments. While accordion music is often thought of as a rather limited musical genre, one will be surprised to learn of the diversity offered by instruments of various cultures. The accordion is not just one instrument – it is a whole family of free reed instruments, each having its special character, tradition and musical flavour. Petri’s musical career emphasizes his desire to find the most authentic instrument to play the music at hand. Argentine tangos rightly deserve the bandoneon while French music benefits from the musette accordion. At times he breaks the tradition by intuitively introducing new and bold experimentation.
