The old instruments of the Stadtpfeiffer were replaced by French-styled oboes and bassoons in German courts and cities at the beginning of the 18th century. These became the bandes de hautbois to which trumpets were added, the combination becoming the basis of the military band. After the marches and the parades, however, these musicians were also invited to take part in the court's formal entertainments. It was for these circumstances that Georg Philipp Telemann and his contemporaries created a completely new type of repertoire that was linked to the French and Italian genres of the Suite and the Concerto. Hunting horns were also added to the ensemble at certain moments. This is the repertoire that Eolus tackles here, with total respect for the characteristic techniques of horn and trumpet harmonics; others have attempted to conquer this repertoire by completely unhistorical performance practices.

TELEMANN: Musique de Table (Tafelmusik), Vol. 2

Australian early music group the Elysium Ensemble continue their series of recordings of duos on period instruments focusing on the art of elegant conversation in the Baroque with this album of canons and fantasias by Georg Philipp Telemann. With a programme centered on the Melodious Canons composed in 1738 in Paris, Elysium principals Greg Dikmans (flute) and Lucinda Moon (violin) also introduce an accompanying selection of Telemann’s solo fantasias for their respective instruments. The Elysium Ensemble has been acclaimed by critics for its elegant performances, fine musicianship and authoritative interpretations of music from the Baroque and Classical periods. This special ensemble embodies the concept of elysium (defined in the 17th century as a state of ideal happiness) by bringing together musicians whose awareness of the stylistic demands of the repertoire is combined with a mastery of period instruments. The ensemble’s performances are indicative of the freshness and spontaneity which the musicians bring to this collaboration through discussion, rehearsal, experimentation and research.

An ideal introduction to Telemann's orchestral music, the Oboe Concertos and Orchestral Suites are the most meaningful part of the composer's orchestral output. This is the first release on Challenge Classics by the well-established Bach Concentus ensemble.

TELEMANN: Changeante (La) / Les Nations Anciens et Modernes

This is an issue of considerable potential significance, the opening installment in what is planned as a complete recording of Telemann’s 1725/26 Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst, the first integral cycle of church cantatas for the liturgical year ever published. Ever the astute self-publicist, Telemann had first announced in the Hamburg press plans to publish a cycle of cantatas as early as 1723, but the late delivery of the texts by the poet, Pastor Michael Brandenburg, forced Telemann to turn to a new cycle, Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst. For this, he sought the help of various poets, but in the end employed texts that were mostly the work of a young Hamburg writer, Arnold Wilckens, who based them largely on the Epistle for the day.

Planned more with domestic than church use in mind, the 72 cantatas are chamber works scored for a single voice, an obbligato instrument (specified with characteristic pragmatism by the composer as “a violin, or oboe, or flute, or recorder”), and continuo. The earliest cantatas of the cycle, sold by subscription, were ready by the end of 1725, in time for the issue of the first in the cycle, the cantata for New Year’s Day. Numerous reprints and the number of published copies still extant testify to the success of the venture, a success that was doubtless responsible for Telemann issuing a second collection in 1731–32.

The first six cantatas to be issued in Toccata’s new series are all for high voice, and cover a wide range of the liturgical year. The claim that four cantatas (TWV 1:941, TWV 1:730, TWV 1:1502, and TWV 1:96) are first recordings is untrue, the first three being available in current recordings. Toccata has also got in a mess with their TWV numbering, giving Hemmet den Eifer the number of In gering (wrongly listed as TWV1:549) instead of its correct number, TWV1:730. Hemmet den Eifer is also erroneously listed on the cover as being for the First Sunday after Epiphany rather than the Fourth, although the booklet gets it right. Not an auspicious start for an ambitious series.

The form of each cantata is the same: opening and closing da capo arias framing a lengthy plain (or secco) recitative. The use of rhetorical gesture is a feature of the cantatas, either in obvious mimetic ways such as the graphic shakes on the word “regen” (“trembling”) in the opening aria of TWV1:1040, or with greater musical subtlety when the music of TWV 1: 1502’s first aria becomes disjointed to illustrate the impotence of mortal wisdom “to gain complete perfection.” Hemmet den Eifer starts in strikingly bold fashion with an aria demanding “Stifle your eagerness/banish revenge,” but the most dramatic music here is to be found in “Du bist verflucht” (“You are accursed”), the opening aria of TWV1:213 for the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Here a turbulent accompaniment underpins a colorfully declamatory text, the “voice of terror” inspiring a headlong chromatic descent in the voice, fearfully dogged by the recorder.

Mona Julsrud’s account of these six cantatas is generally very satisfying. She is a bright, agile soprano with a good technique that gets her around ornaments with ease, phrases musically, and sings with clarity and good diction. But on the debit side, the voice lacks distinctive color, and there’s a tendency for upper notes to sound “hooty.” She is well supported by the members of Bergen Barokk, although it might have provided greater interest had at least one of Telemann’s alternative obbligato instruments been employed rather than using a recorder throughout. Other than the solecisms noted above, the presentation is good, with a slipcase that includes the disc, and an informative 60-page booklet that deserves full credit for printing the relevant biblical text before each cantata. Good sound. Overall, this is a promising, if not perfect start to a project one wishes every success.

FANFARE: Brian Robins

TELEMANN: Don Quixote / La Lyra / Ouverture in D Minor

Although the coming "Bach Year" has many labels and listeners focused on the formidable legacy of Johann Sebastian, perhaps we also should take this time to more actively explore the work of a contemporary who not only was a friend (he was godfather to Bach's son, C.P.E.), but whose music was specifically admired by J.S. and even had some measure of influence in Bach's own work. Georg Philipp Telemann not only was prolific, he wrote for nearly every musical genre, from instrumental concertos and orchestral pieces to solo keyboard and vocal works to cantatas and oratorios to opera. He wrote a really terrific set of 12 solo violin Fantaisies--nowhere near the monumental masterpieces of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas, but skillfully written and eminently engaging--that were virtually ignored by major violinists until Andrew Manze's superb recording on Harmonia Mundi a few years ago. And now we have this outstanding recording of Overtures--which essentially are orchestral suites à la Handel or Bach--that immediately will convince any doubters and please those who already know that Telemann was a master composer of the first rank. This is music you can listen to over and over without the slightest shadowy intrusion of boredom. It's almost as if Telemann consciously incorporated the best of French, Italian, and German styles into one, not forgetting to include the stately gait and elegant melodic character of Handelian dance in some of the movements. And as good as the music is, the playing on this CD is as good as it gets. Although the instruments are modern, the playing style is as articulate, clean, and detailed as that of the best period orchestras. The bassoon and oboe soloists deserve special praise. [12/10/1999] --David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

TELEMANN Sonatas for Recorder and Basso Continuo: in F, TWV 41:F1 ; in B?, TWV 41:B3 ; in f, TWV 41:f1; in C, TWV 41:C2; in d, TWV 41:d4 ; in C, TWV 41:C5 • Michala Petri (rcr); Anthony Newman (hpd) • OUR RECORDINGS 8.226909 (44:40)


Don’t be fooled by the label, OUR Recordings; the numbering system and the distribution shows that it is part of the vast and expanding Naxos empire. That being said, it is barely a small province therein, for there is a fair amount of material that has come out under their auspices. When one can bag a renowned recorder virtuoso such as Michaela Petri, then one can expect good things.


It is an oddity, however, that as prolific a composer as Telemann was, he paid rather scanter attention in his huge output of solo chamber works to the humble recorder. To be sure, solos for the instrument abound in the trio sonatas, concertos, and other ensemble pieces, but it seems that he preferred the traverse in terms of sound and musical possibilities. Actual sonatas for recorder and continuo, where they are not part of the practice of generic woodwind pieces, are few. Apparently only six such beasts have survived (though of course one might suggest that there are others out there waiting to be found and identified). These are four from the collection Der getreue Musik-Meister from about 1728 or 1729, and a further pair from the Essercizii Musici , a rather comprehensive gathering of sundry chamber works (sonatas and trios) that Telemann published in 1740. Given that they are literally buried within these compendiums, and since these may be of a more pedagogical focus, it is no wonder that they have emerged only piecemeal from the Telemann shadows.


The two works from the 1740s, in D Minor (TWV 41:d4) and C Major (TWV 41:C5), reflect the composer’s attempts to inculcate himself into the newly emerging galant style, even though the former has the four-movement format of his Baroque chamber works and indeed sounds like it dates from a couple of decades earlier. Here the opening arioso is suitable plaintive, while the following Allegro spins out the small motives like beams of light, dimming ever so slightly when Telemann inserts a sudden minor key harmony. The short Grave could have been written by Vivaldi. The latter is a more advanced three-movement work, though the opening is a gentle arioso that appears floating above a pedal tone. The second is a Lamento, and the third is a lively Hornpipe, a type of music of which Telemann, living in the port city of Hamburg, was fond. The other sonatas seem to push the boundaries of the instrument in terms of flexibility and range, indicating that whoever was supposed to play them really needed to know the instrument. There is pathos, such as the opening movement of the F-Minor Sonata (TWV 41:f1), with its plaintive calls, or the very Bachian second slow movement of the B?-Major Sonata (TWV 41:B3) with its meandering line that takes awhile to get to a cadence. The second movements are generally tour de forces with regards to recorder virtuosity, and in places such as jaunty opening of the F-Major Sonata (TWV 41:F1), which seems to rush off with display, or the second movement of the other C-Major Sonata (TWV 41:C2) runs like a perpetual motion machine with just a hint of hornpipe in the flashy theme.


Michaela Petri’s playing is, as always, superb. Her technical ability to change registers so that one thinks there is another instrument in the background is astounding, as always, and she phrases her slower movements to bring out the lingering emotion of the often floating lines. Her accompanist, Anthony Newman, also no stranger to Telemann, is the perfect partner, his realizations keeping pace with but never overshadowing Petri. I do think I detect a cello also going along with the line, but alas no name is mentioned in the notes. In short, this is a terrific disc and one every Baroque music collector ought to have in their collection. It demonstrates that her reputation as one if not the premiere recorder player is well-deserved.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer

The ensemble "Die Freitagsakademie" was founded in Bern 1993. The name originates from one of the first establishments of middle-class music life in the Berlin of the 18th century: the FREITAGSAKADEMIEN, founded by Johann Gottlieb Janitsch in 1738. The Berlin society met regularly to make music together in a semi-public or private setting. The Freitagsakademien enjoyed an outstanding reputation and attracted musicians of the most varied origins.

Georg Philipp Telemann, one of the most prolific composers of the Baroque era. Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico have taken this opportunity to pay tribute to his eclecticism in a programme juxtaposing works that move constantly between French and Italian stylistic traditions. On this disc, Giovanni Antonini not only directs the ensemble, but also returns to the recorder, his own instrument of choice (as it was the composer’s), and performs the Suite in A minor, the Concerto in C major and the Concerto da camera in G minor. We will also discover a curiosity, a sonata for chalumeaux. This instrument of folk origins is comparable to the clarinet, and Telemann was the first composer to show an interest in it.

With the participation of: Tindaro Capuano, Enrico Onofri.

The reserve collections of the Bibliothèque Royale of Brussels hold the sole printed copy of Telemann's Twelve Fantasies for solo flute...These fantasias considerably enrich the slender corpus of Baroque works for flute without bass, alongside two other gems, the Partita of J.S. Bach and the Sonata in A minor of C.P.E. Bach. A cycle for solo flute of this kind, arranged by tonalities and rising gradually from the key of A to that of G, is unique in the repertory...These fantasias, each with its own mood, are miniatures consisting of a succession of three or four movements in the same key. All of them have in common the concision, the formal brevity and the rapid alternation of their movements. Telemann plays on effects of contrast and surprise by switching between opposing characters and tempi. The open form of the fantasia offers teh composer an ideal field of freedom and expression for his inexhaustible imagination. A fervent champion of the reunion des gouts embracing German, Italian, French and Polish tastes, telemann covered all the genres, national styles and compositional idioms of his time. - Francois Lazarevitch

That a harpsichord can be so sensual, bursting with life, and even humorous as in Anke Dennert's GENUIN solo debut (following two ensemble productions) is certainly a rarity - even given that the times when these instruments were disparagingly referred to as dry-as-dust egg slicers belong to the distant past... Anke Dennert plays music by the venerable Georg Philipp Telemann, who - as we learn with pleasure upon listening to this recording - was in reality not as venerable as all that; with an astonishing wealth of nuances, the harpsichordist offers a splendid rendition of the Hamburg master's Polish, pastoral, Latin, and above all sumptuous delicacies on her one-of-a-kind, 300-year-old instrument. A discovery for connoisseurs and lovers of Baroque music!

Telemann, G.P.: Partitas Nos. 1-6

"Tremendous fun!", "Scintillating!", wrote the journalists of Diapason and Classica about the most recent recording of Olivier Fortin and his ensemble, devoted to the rarely heard Romanus Weichlein, which received every honor from the French musical press (Diapason d'Or, Choc de Classica, FFFF Telerama). This year, the Canadian harpsichordist and his loyal band have decided to record Telemann, the 250th anniversary of whose death will be commemorated in 2017. Two anonymous musicians from the city of Hamburg wrote in 1728 that "Handel composes music" but Telemann composes "music and affects". The overture-suites by Telemann presented on this recording are written in a "mimetic' style: Les Nations, the Concerto Polonois, La Bizarre and the Burlesque de Quixotte explore a vast range of subjects and, even more than all his other works, reveal a man of the theatre, widely read, curious a humorist and a shrewd observer of the physical and political world around him.