Telemann Archive
G. P. Telemann: Essercizii Musici – Florilegium – Channel Classics
G. P. Telemann: (sections from) Essercizii Musici – Florilegium (dir. Ashley Solomon, flute) – Channel Classics CCS 40118—119:30, ****1/2 Telemann, a contemporary of Handel and Bach, is remembered best today for being a prolific composer. Trained as a lawyer, he took extraordinary means to pursue music and later promote his music, in a variety of genres and by incorporating a number of regional styles. Most notably, Telemann integrated French and Polish elements into his music. Among the collections he took to publishing was a collection he entitled Essercizii Musici, trio sonatas and solo sonatas in four movements, for a variety of instruments. The title of the work itself is interesting. When composers used the word “exercises” in their pieces, they almost seemed destined to an amateur audience. In some cases, these solo sonatas could be played by just two players; the trio sonatas, by three. The use of Italian in the title, I am guessing, was to impart another regional connotation to the works. Some years ago I became acquainted with this collection, which takes the space of four CDs, performed by Camerata Köln on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. I soon learned the pieces weren’t overly simple; they no doubt presented […]
TEN BEST CLASSICAL OF 2017 – II
Best of the Year Classical List for 2017 Recommendations by Fritz Balwit Bela Bartok: Complete String Quartets – Heath Quartet – Harmonia Mundi 907661.62 This young quartet has achieved the highest levels of concentration on this complete set of the quartets. All aspects of Bartok, from prickly agitation and folk humor to serene contrapuntal abstraction, are perfectly rendered. There is real excitement in the playing and the soundscape is outstanding. This recording narrowly edges out a release by the superb Chiara quartet, which, uniquely, plays the music without scores. Bjarte EIKE: The Ale-House Sessions – Rubicon 1017 This recording, reviewed on these pages this past summer, has only gotten better with repeated listening. Bjarte Eike has succeeded in presenting a frothy, joyous and surprising repertoire of Purcellian inspired fiddle music to popular audiences. The fiddlers can bawl out sea-shanties as well, but when Mr. Eike turns his bowing talent to a lament, there won’t be a dry eye in the house. Grand fun and superb musicianship. Star rating has been upgraded to *****! Link to Review DVORAK & SCHUBERT: String Quartets “Death and the Maiden” & “American” – The Dragon Quartet – Channel Classic 39417 Four […]
TEN BEST CLASSICAL OF 2017 – II
TEN BEST CLASSICAL OF 2017 – Fritz Balwit Bela Bartok: Complete String Quartets – Heath Quartet – Harmonia Mundi 907661.62 This young quartet has achieved the highest levels of concentration on this complete set of the quartets. All aspects of Bartok, from prickly agitation and folk humor to serene contrapuntal abstraction, are perfectly rendered. There is real excitement in the playing and the soundscape is outstanding. This recording narrowly edges out a release by the superb Chiara quartet, which, uniquely, plays the music without scores. Bjarte EIKE: The Ale-House Sessions – Rubicon 1017 This recording, reviewed on these pages this past summer, has only gotten better with repeated listening. Bjarte Eike has succeeded in presenting a frothy, joyous and surprising repertoire of Purcellian inspired fiddle music to popular audiences. The fiddlers can bawl out sea-shanties as well, but when Mr. Eike turns his bowing talent to a lament, there won’t be a dry eye in the house. Grand fun and superb musicianship. Star rating has been upgraded to *****! Link to Review DVORAK & SCHUBERT: String Quartets “Death and the Maiden” & “American” – The Dragon Quartet – Channel Classic 39417 Four young Chinese musicians, who have established […]
TELEMANN: A Companion – Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin – Harmonia Mundi
TELEMANN: A Companion (7CDS) – Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin – Harmonia Mundi 2908781, 8 hours 39:06, (9/8/17) ****½ : A grand survey of the prolific and many-voiced genius of the 18th century Baroque with two large scale choral works at center. For the 350th anniversary of Telemann’s death, Harmonia Mundi has arranged a handsome bouquet of recordings from its own catalog and added a substantial book which documents the composer’s long and fruitful life, calling the whole production A Telemann Companion. The diligent musicologists of this label have set an absolute standard in their critical introductions to music, and its companion essay (with English and French translations) makes for rewarding education in music history. It would not be easy to select a sample of a composer whose output is numbered at 6000 compositions, surpassing the combined works of Bach and Handel. Yet HM has kept the task manageable by selecting from recent releases which cover the main genres of 18th-century music: opera, sacred music, the concerto and the orchestral suite. Conspicuously missing are the solo works and the trio sonata. Telemann’s fanatical musical inventiveness extended across the entire range of the music of his time. His various employments brought […]
Erik Then-Bergh – The Complete Electrola and Deutsche Grammophone Recordings, 1938-1958 = Works of HANDEL, BEETHOVEN, BACH, SCHUMANN, CHOPIN & REGER – APR (2-CDs)
Mark Obert-Thorn and Appian Records restore Erik Then-Bergh to prominence. Erik Then-Bergh – The Complete Electrola and Deutsche Grammophone Recordings, 1938-1958 = HANDEL: Suite No. 4 in e minor; BACH (arr. BUSONI): Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in d, BWV 1004; BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101; Bagatelles, Op. 33: Nos. 1 and 4; SCHUMANN: Piano Sonata No. 2 in g, Op. 22; CHOPIN: Nocturne in B Major, Op. 62, No. 1; REGER: Silhouettes, Op. 53: Nos. 2 and 6; Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Telemann, Op. 134; Piano Concerto in f, Op. 114 – Erik Then-Bergh, p./ Southwest Radio Orch., Baden-Baden/ Hans Rosbaud – APR 6021 (2-CDs) 77:39, 76:52 (10/28/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Erik Then-Bergh (1916-1982) for years has remained a “singular success,” his reputation having embraced one recorded work, the Piano Concerto of Max Reger – born, co-incidentally, the same 1916. Then-Bergh, however, deserves a wider acknowledgment of his singular powers – as several YouTube videos attest – as both performer and pedagogue, a long-awaited homage that Mark Obert-Thorn has managed to achieve. Erik Then-Bergh received his first piano lessons at the age of five from his father and a further […]
“Soaring Solo – Unaccompanied Works II” – Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio, violin & viola – MSR Classics
Don’t think twice about getting this wonderful recital. “Soaring Solo – Unaccompanied Works II” – Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio, violin & viola – MSR Classics MS 1627, 73:32 [Distr. by Albany] *****: This is Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio’s second solo disc, the first called “Going Solo” following this same sort of format. Here, the artist says “Soaring effortlessly high above the clouds. That is the sensation I enjoy when I am in the perfect performance zone. It is a feeling of tremendous freedom and peace. As if I am weightless, I am soaring on air currents looking passively down on the tumultuous world below as the music flows past my ears. When I decided to record a second CD of solo pieces for violin and viola, Soaring Solo was the title that came ‘out of the blue’ and drifted into my consciousness.” Interesting, and no doubt pertinent to this fine violinist/ violist when selecting this program, but I am not sure how much it matters to the listener or our appreciation of the music. What is important is the wonderful technical acumen she brings to each piece on this recital regardless of instrument played, and the superb tonal qualities she manages on each. The […]
“Encores: BACH, HANDEL, TELEMANN, MOZART” – Polish Ch. Orch. /Jerzy Maksymiuk – MD&G
“Encores: BACH, HANDEL, TELEMANN, MOZART” – Polish Chamber Orchestra /Jerzy Maksymiuk – MD&G 3210181-2, 50:01 [Dist. by E1] (9/30/16) ***: Some of this CD makes a good demo. B01IG479L4 Just making it onto the US market, this MD&G from 1984 features the great Polish Chamber Orchestra under its legendary conductor Jerzy Maksymiuk in early digital sound that was already being tamed by the Detmold Tonmeisters. It’s not true of all the tracks, but there are moments when you understand MD&G’s reputation for making music and sound indivisible: at the beginning of the slow movement of CPE Bach’s Cello Concerto in A Major Wq 172, in what sounds like an well-upholstered, pre-Urtext edition, when the strings have almost a two-minute introduction, you can hear such sculpted detail, especially in the middle and lower strings, that when Ewa Wasiotka enters with that famous melody, so beautiful (and an octave higher than usually played) the contrast is breathtaking. On the other hand, they use a phantasmagoric edition for Handel’s Queen of Sheba Sinfonia that is so deliriously filled with re-orchestrations, added trills and ornaments, and recorded in hi-res surround with such spectacular brilliance, that it should become an iconic demo track. The rest of […]
Classical Banjo: The Perfect Southern Art – John Bullard, banjo
The virtuoso of classical works on the banjo. Classical Banjo: The Perfect Southern Art [TrackList follows] – John Bullard, banjo – self TrackList: SCHUMANN: Three Romances for Oboe MARCELLO: Concerto in d TELEMANN: Partita No. 5 in e HANDEL: Trio Sonata in g, Op. 2 No. 8 BACH: Fugue, Sonata No. 1 BACH: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring; Movement Ten from Cantata BWV 147 GRIEG: Lyric pieces As you can see by the track listing, this banjo player has even eclipsed Bela Fleck in handling a variety of classical music on the lowly banjo. Bullard was originally kicked out of Virginia’s Commonwealth Music Program because of his instrument. On this CD (and some earlier ones) he reimagines the banjo altogether, as some other performers have amazingly done lately with the lowly ukelele. Bullard went to the Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention in Virginia and eventually met and recorded Fred Boyce, who played Bach on the banjo. He studied with Boyce, recorded two albums of classical banjo and eventually graduated from VCU’s Dept. of Music. He has also published two books on the classical banjo and his music is featured in two motion pictures. Bullard himself did the transcriptions of some of the […]
“Les Elements: Tempests, Storms, and Marine Festivals” = Music of LOCKE, MARAIS, RAMEAU, REBEL, TELEMANN & others – Jordi Savall – Alia Vox (2 discs)
A highly effective and illuminating concept album of thrilling dimensions. “Les Elements: Tempests, Storms, and Marine Festivals” = LOCKE: Music from The Tempest; MARAIS: Suite No. 4 “Airs pour les Matelots & les Tritons”; RAMEAU: Air pour les Zephirs (from Les Indes Galantes); Orage et air pour Boree (from Les Indes galantes); Tonnerre (from Hippolyte Et Aricie); Zoroastre: Contredanse; Zoroastre: Contredanse très vive; REBEL: Les Élémens; TELEMANN: Overture (Suite) TWV 55:C3 in C major for wind, strings & continuo ‘Hamburger Ebb und Fluth’ (‘Wassermusik’); VIVALDI: Flute Concerto, Op. 10 No. 1 in F major, RV 433 ‘La tempesta di mare’ – Le Concert des Nations/ Jordi Savall – Alia Vox multichannel SACD AVSA 9914 (2 discs), 49:45, 48:59 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****: Jean-Fery Rebel’s The Elements is one of the major representations of the expression of fiery and descriptive portrayals in music ever, not just the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as emphasized on this release. In fact, it is the representation of chaos, one of the first important forays into the world of tone painting. Lully and Marais were heavily invested in this genre, seeing it as a rousing and enticing signification to the audience, ever alert to the […]
CPE BACH: Hamburger Sinfonien 1-6 – Ostrobothian Ch. Orch./ Sakari Oramo – Alba
A remarkably proficient and glowing account of these superb symphonies.
Oscar Shumsky. violin = Works of BACH, BEETHOVEN TELEMANN, MOZART, RACHMANINOFF, HINDEMITH, SCHUBERT, KREISLER, SCHUMANN, SAINT-SEANS & Others – with various soloists & orch. – Doremi (3 CDs)
Virtuoso Oscar Shumsky receives a generous part of his long overdue tribute as a master violinist of extraordinary range and accomplishment.
Jean-Pierre Rampal Flute Reissue – Urania (2 CDs)
Impeccable taste and flawless technique define the art of Jean-Pierre Rampal in Baroque and Classical styles.
“Fortuna Sherzosa” = Works of PHILIPP HEINRICH ERLEBACH, JOHANN ULICH, JOHANN PHILIPP FRIEGER & TELEMANN – Ina Siedlaczek, sop./ Hamburger Ratsmusik – Audite
A brilliant recital of mostly unknown music guaranteed to entertain and enlighten.
TELEMANN: Double Concerti for Winds and Strings = Rebel/ Joerg Michael Schwarz – Bridge
Electric, galvanized performances of Telemann double concertos by Rebel, an ensemble that pounces on the notes, the accents, and the beat.
Concierto Barroco (2013)
A pleasant video concert of unusual early Baroque works by a sextet.
TELEMANN: Works for Clavier – Olivier Baumont, harpsichord – EuromusicROYER: Premiere Livre de Pieces pour Clavecin – Yago Magugo
A pair of infrequently-heard composers for the harpsichord.
"The Denner Ensemble": Music by PHILIDOR, FASCH, REBEL, TELEMANN, BOISMORTIER, and LULLY (Mark Baigent, oboe. Rebecca Prosser, recorders. Ben Sansom, violin. Nathaniel Harrison, bassoon. Karen Glen, harpsichord. David Hatcher, bass viol.) – X5 Group
The style and panache with which it is performed and recorded lend the CD extra distinction.
“Die Soloflöte: Vol. 1: Barock” (Solo Flute – Baroque) = Works of MARAIS, HOTTETERE, BRAUN, TELEMANN, QUANTZ, DELUSSE & OTHERS – Mirjam Nastasi, flute – Ars
There’s some undeniably savory musical treats here, so savor them, listening to a piece or two at a time.
TELEMANN: 36 Fantasias for harpsichord – Andrea Coen – Brilliant (3 CDs)
Not a classic masterpiece, but an interesting set of keyboard works by the prolific composer.
“Barbaric Beauty: Holland Baroque Society Meets Milŏs Valent, Violin” = TELEMANN and 18th-cent. Dance Manuscripts – Channel Classics
Telemann meets Polish folk music: a stimulating experience from Holland Baroque Society and guest Milŏs Valent.
TELEMANN: Sonatas and Sonatinas – Heiko ter Schegget, recorder/ Mieneke van der Velden, viola da gamba/ Benny Aghassi, bassoon/ Zvi Meniker, harpsichord – MD&G Scene
Two different recorders are used in this collection; one tuned much lower.
“Treasury of the German Baroque” = Works of QUANTZ, BUXTEHUDE, TELEMANN, PACHELBEL, FASCH, LUBECK, BACH – The Hanoverian Ensemble – MSR Classics
An odd mix, maybe, but there are many wind-blown pleasures to enjoy here.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
