CENTAUR CRC 2592

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By the time he was twenty years old Telemann had mastered French and Italian composition styles as a result of visits to the Brunswick and Hannover courts, and had founded the Leipzig Collegium Musicum while serving there as director of the Opera and Neukirche. In 1709 he was appointed Kapellmeister and Secretary to Duke Johann Wilhelm at Eisenach. In the following years he visited nearby Weimar where he began his lifelong friendship with J. S. Bach, and wrote these trios. These works are remarkable in that, while they display mastery of existing musical styles, they are not in what would become Telemann’s mature composition style. He could conceivably have played them on the violin accompanied by Bach at the keyboard, with Pisendel, Volumier, or any of the other notable musicians who were among his friends. These works are most reminiscent of Corelli, and those involving the flute are likely to be the ones praised by Quantz in his 1752 flute treatise. They are recorded here for the first time.

When listening to yet another disk of excellent Telemann excellently played, of all the adjectives that go through one’s mind, the one that seemed to stick most firmly was "delectable." Of particular note is the wooden Baroque transverse flute playing which was expressive and firm of tone and the excellent harpsichord playing of James Bobb. These are tense performances in high OI/OPPI* style with crisp accents and brisk tempi and no trace whatever of vibrato but the lyrical slow movements are played with great affect and feeling.

The notes and tray liner continue the general trend towards smaller and smaller type, so on your way to the record shop pick up a magnifying glass, too.

*Original Instruments/Original Performance Practice Informed

Paul Shoemaker

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