TELEMANN: Four Sacred Cantatas; 2-Flute Trio; The Patient Socrates, Scene 12 – Patrice Djerejian, contralto/ William Bennett, Kate Hill, flutes/ Josephine Knight, cello/ English Chamber Orchestra/ Philip Ledger, conductor and continuo – MSR

by | Dec 26, 2007 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

TELEMANN: Four Sacred Cantatas; 2-Flute Trio; The Patient Socrates, Scene 12 – Patrice Djerejian, contralto/ William Bennett, Kate Hill, flutes/ Josephine Knight, cello/ English Chamber Orchestra/ Philip Ledger, conductor and continuo – MSR MS 1211, 66:53 ***:

Though Patrice Djerejian has garnered some superlative reviews, I am not so happy with these performances. Her voice, at times supple and flexible, also tends to a hardness and unyielding metallic sound on some of the middle to higher range notes. I cannot account for this—perhaps it is the nature of the vocal part that Telemann provides for these texts, but I do find that unlikely. I think it more likely that she is trying to emote too fervently, trying to convey meaning to the texts that really don’t need such treatment, and as a result loses some degree of vocal pliability.

The program is very nice indeed. Four of Telemann’s Sunday cantatas, taken from the set that attempted to fulfill the requirements for all 72 needed for the Lutheran Sunday services. The scoring and form of these pieces made it easy for churches and homes to perform this music, part of the composer’s original intentions. The music is quite melodic and catchy, not nearly as overtly pietistic as Bach’s, and far more earthy and unadorned – though not less interesting for the most part. The Trio for two flutes is a delightful work from Telemann’s many chamber works, done when he had a fascination for the French style, and reflective as such.

We have only nine operas by the composer, though there may have been well over 50 works he produced for the stage. The Patient Socrates is an example of his comic genius, and the scene provided avoids the comic for one of the few moments where the idea of love and courtship take the fore. It offers a tantalizing snippet of a piece that would be worth hearing whole.

Sonics are very good, and this can get a recommendation despite the caveats listed above.

— Steven Ritter
 

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