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Georg
Philipp TELEMANN (1681-1767) Divine Harmony
1. Weg mit Sodoms gift’gen Früchten [12:32]
2. Glaubet, hoffet, leidet, duldet [11:01]
3. Stille die Tränen des winselnden Armen [10:41]
4. Ergeuss dich zur Salbung der schmachtenden Seele [14:29]
5. Trio for two flutes, in D major (1705-12?) [10:23]
6. Der Geduldige Socrates: Scene 12 (1721) [7:51]
Patrice Djerejian
(contralto) (1-4, 6)
English Chamber
Orchestra/Sir Philip Ledger (1-4, 6)
William Bennett; Kate
Hall (flutes); Sir Philip Ledger (harpsichord); Josephine Knight
(cello) (5)
Monika Stache
(soprano) Guido Sanguinetti (bass) Norbert Meyn (tenor) Rosalind
Waters (soprano) Simon Preece (baritone) (6)
rec. January 2004, St. Luke’s Church, London
Texts and translations included MSR CLASSICS
MS1211 [66:53]
For
all his immense productivity, Telemann very rarely disappoints.
Such, at least, was the conclusion I reached very early in my
days of listening to baroque music. This disc does nothing to
make me change my working axiom.
We
get to hear three aspects of Telemann’s work, as composer of
sacred cantatas and of chamber music, and as operatic composer.
To take the chamber music first: the Trio Sonata for two flutes
is thoroughly delightful. It is very much in the French manner,
its four movements (Menuet – Gavotte – Sommeil – Gigue) forming
a suite of charming and characteristically inventive music.
It gets an affectionate but disciplined performance here, the
two flutes of William Bennett and Kate Hall interweaving in
a fascinating and gently compelling fashion, ably supported
by the continuo work of Sir Philip Ledger and Josephine Knight,
springy, supportive and attentive. The blending of the two flutes
is nowhere more apparent, nowhere more beautifully heard than
in the ‘Sommeil’. This is Telemann’s take on the French vogue
for slow lullaby-like pieces, a vogue which seems to have begun
(or at any rate gathered force) with the popularity of the aria “Dormez,
dormez beaux yeux” in Lully’s Les Amantsmagnifiques of
1670, and of which there are attractive examples by, amongst
others, Campra, Francois Couperin and Jacquet de la Guerre.
Suffice it so say that Telemann’s ‘sommeil’ will stand comparison
with its French originals.
If
I have begun my review with the Trio Sonata, that is partly
because I think it a particularly fine piece; but it is also
because I have some small reservations about the singing of
Patrice Djerejian, whose name is the one blazoned most prominently
on the front of the CD. She sings four of Telemann’s short sacred
cantatas. Each follows the same pattern, being made up of three
sections, two da capo arias separated by a recitative.
Characteristically, the limitations of the formula don’t inhibit
Telemann. He is consistently alert in his response to text,
with more than a little word-painting of a mildly predictable
kind, which functions very effectively as musical rhetoric,
gripping and directing the hearer’s attention to the moral impact
of his very serious texts. By his contrasts of tempo, his superb
obbligato decorations (John Anderson’s oboe is heard to beautiful
effect), his consistently inventive writing for solo violin
and flute and the flexibility of his rhythms, Telemann maintains
and rewards the listener’s interest throughout. Djerejian is
at her best in the slower movements - she sings with gravity
and beauty in the second aria of Weg mit Sodoms gift’gen
Früchten, for example; she generally handles the recitatives
very well too, her phrasing intelligent and her work often conveying
a real sense of serious religious thought. In some of the quicker
arias, however, her voice is rather on the heavy side, and can
sound somewhat hard on higher notes. But these reservations
don’t spoil one’s enjoyment of some fine music, and the evident
commitment of Djererian’s performances is always attractive;
she is clearly a singer who thinks hard about the words she
is singing.
The
CD ends with an extract – a single scene – from one of Telemann’s
surviving operas (most are lost), Der Geduldige Socrates (The
Patient Socrates), in which Djerejian is joined by other singers,
but takes the dominant role as Antippo, pleading with the would-be-suicide
Edronica, whom he loves. Antippo’s aria (‘Hegt dein Herze Kein
Ebarmen’) elicits some particularly fine singing from Djerejian,
plaintive but strong in its opening (where she is beautifully
supported by Ledger and the orchestra), and more fiercely passionate
later. The extract closes with a beautiful duet between Antippo
and Edronica (nicely sung by Monike Stache), a subtle and graceful
piece, melodic lines interweaving before the voices are, properly
enough, united in the final affirmation of eternal loyalty to
one another.
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