Apparently Telemann's music enjoys a growing popularity among
ensembles of baroque music; discs devoted to his music appear
with great frequency. That is understandable: the more one listens
to his music the more one is surprised by the versatility of his
oeuvre and his inexhaustible imagination. His output is huge but
he never seems to repeat himself. The six trios which are the
core of this disc are impressive testimony to that.
The very title of this collection, 'III Trietti metodiche e III Scherzi',
printed in 1731, is remarkable. 'Trietti' is the diminutive
of 'trio', so Telemann presents them as 'little trios'. It
isn't just the 'trietti' which are written in the form of
trio sonatas, it's the 'Scherzi' as well. And this title has
to be taken literally: Telemann liked musical jokes, and these
'Scherzi' are examples of that. The word 'metodiche' also
needs explanation. The word 'Methode' (method) was often used
for material meant to instruct players or composers. In this
case it was the art of ornamentation which was the subject
of the 'trietti metodichi', just like the 'Sonate metodiche'
which Telemann had published some years earlier. To that end
he added ornamented versions of the slow movements.
This aspect shows that these sonatas were first and foremost written
for the growing market of amateur musicians, who longed for
not too difficult, but still first-rate music. The scoring
reflects this: although these sonatas were conceived for two
violins and bc, the upper parts could also be played on two
transverse flutes. The flute was quickly becoming the most
fashionable instrument, in particular among amateurs. In his
liner-notes Karl Böhmer underlines the importance of a performance
with two instruments of the same kind. "In many movements,
Telemann is so demonstratively striving for tonal melding
- through stretto and parallel thirds and sixths - that any
tonal dissimilitude between the voices would be to the detriment
of the music". Therefore all trios are played here with
two violins.
The transverse flute is played here in the two quartets. The Quartet
in a minor is one of the so-called 'Paris Quartets' and performed
on this disc with two transverse flutes and two bassoons with
additional basso continuo. The Quartet in d minor has been
attributed to Handel - called 'Concerto a quattro', but in
another source it is attributed to Telemann. Up until now
it has not been possible to identify the composer. Karl Böhmer
suggests it could have been a 'co-production' by the two as
they were good friends and exchanged musical ideas.
The trios show great variety in styles and musical ideas. The first
movement of the Trietto 1, for instance, is a fugue, whereas
the last movement is much more light-hearted. The Trietto
2 is a kind of tribute to Corelli, and that is very suitable
as Corelli was the father of the trio sonata. Telemann even
wrote a series of 'Sonates Corellisantes' in his honour. The
American ensemble Rebel has recorded a splendid disc with
some of these sonatas and sonatas by Corelli himself on Dorian
Records. The Trietto 3 begins with a movement in which the
theme has been given a chromatic counterpoint and which contains
a number of strongly contrasting rhythms. The Scherzo 1 is
written in the style of Polish folk music, as Telemann did
in several 'Concertos polonois'. The second movement is a
polonaise. A musical joke is the first movement of the Scherzo
2: the principal theme modulates a number of times before
returning to the original key. It is certainly something none
of his customers would have expected.
The ensemble Parnassi musici makes the most of this repertoire. They
play with zest and imagination. The many twists and turns
in these sonatas are fully explored. Whether they made any
use of the examples of ornamentation Telemann has given in
his publication isn't indicated. They don't need them, but
it would certainly be interesting to hear the kind of ornamentation
Telemann proposed. The quartets are also well played, in a
somewhat different scoring than usual. In the Quartet in d
minor the cello part is played on the bassoon, which is a
legitimate choice, but it seems to me the balance between
the instruments is suffers somewhat as a result. In particular
in the last movement the transverse flute is sometimes overshadowed
somewhat by violin and bassoon.
Not only does this disc once again show how good a composer Telemann
was, it is presents music that is just very enjoyable and entertaining.
Recording and booklet give no reason for complaint, so nothing
should deter you from purchasing this disc.
Johan van Veen
