Telemann aficionados, don't get excited. The
Klingende
Geographie is not a recently-discovered collection of compositions by
your favourite composer. It is not even from his pen - well, not in this
form. In 1959 the German musicologist Adolf Hoffmann selected a number of
movements from Telemann's orchestral suites and published them under this
title, paraphrased in English, a 'musical geography'. He was inspired by a
collection of songs written by Telemann: the
Singende Geographie.
These were based on a kind of geographical textbook in verse form, written
in 1708 by Johann Christoph Losius. Hoffmann's intention, in his own words,
was to provide an "instrumental counterpart" to Telemann's song collection.
Hoffmann selected a number of movements which refer to European
countries or regions of Germany. These are not hard to find, because
Telemann loved this kind of stuff. Several of his orchestral suites are
completely devoted to it, such as the so-called
Völker-Ouvertüre (TWV 55,B5) and the
Ouverture des
nations anciens et modernes (TWV 55,G4). In his liner-notes Peter
Reidermeister sees here one of the reasons that Telemann felt attracted to
French music: "the art of characterisation which frequently involved
onomatopoeia and programme music". However, the genre of musical depiction
was quite common elsewhere. Several Italian composers of the 17th century
wrote programme music and let us not forget Vivaldi's concertos, many of
which have nicknames. Germany had its own tradition as various violin
virtuosos liked to create battle scenes and imitations of instruments or
animals, especially in music for violin. Not for every text in Losius' book
could Hoffmann find a 'geographical counterpart' in the orchestral suites.
In those cases he selected other pieces by association: for the Low
Countries, for instance, he took
Les Flots (The waves) from the
Overture in A (TWV 55,A2) and a
Pastorale from the
Overture
in e minor (TWV 55,e8) for the Convent of Hildesheim.
I don't know - and the liner-notes don't tell us - to what extent
Hoffmann arranged Telemann's movements. In his foreword he suggested
Telemann's songs and these instrumental movements be performed in turn. To
that end he sometimes transposed some of the movements. Whether his
transpositions have been followed here I don't know. I have not compared
every movement with the catalogue of Telemann's works, but at least a number
of them are heard in a different scoring from the original. The recorder is
prominent among these inclusions. The opening
Overture which is the
first movement from the above-mentioned
Völker-Ouvertüre is
scored for strings and basso continuo, but here the recorder is also used.
The last text in the Losius collection was a chorale; this was not set by
Telemann. Hoffmann used the melody of the hymn
Nun ruhen alle
Wälder to a harmonisation by Telemann. That is also performed here.
The disc closes with another early work from his pen, the
Concerto in d
minor for two violins, viola and bc.
Much as I love Telemann's music and as good as all these movements
are, this disc is probably a bit too much of a good thing. His overtures are
always entertaining because of the great variety in character between the
movements. The musical depictions which he often includes in his overtures
are alternated with more 'regular' dance movements without any specific
meaning. Here we get a whole array of 'special effects'. Such a sequence
hardly does Telemann justice. Let us not forget that Hoffmann published his
collection at a time when most of Telemann's music was unknown; the composer
wasn't always taken that seriously anyway. That position has fundamentally
changed, I am happy to say, and today his oeuvre is thoroughly explored.
Musicians and audiences are discovering how many treasures are still hidden
in his large output. Many of his orchestral suites are regularly played and
recorded and that makes a programme like this feel slightly redundant. I
certainly won't return to this disc and prefer complete suites instead. For
an hour of entertainment this disc will do: the performances are alright,
but not something to get excited about. In some cases the performers have
not been able to resist the temptation to exaggerate the effects. I am not
very enthusiastic about the
Concerto in d minor. I have heard better
performances, and the participation of a psaltery is rather odd.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Track listing
Overture (TWV 55:B5,1) [3:4]
About the Globe:
Perpetuum mobile (TWV 55:D12,2) [0:35]
Europe:
Entrée (TWV 55:C2,4) [1:51]
Portugal:
Les Portugais anciens et modernes (TWV 55:B5,6) [2:09]
Spain:
Sarabande (TWV 55:D9,6) [1:52]
Switzerland:
Les Suisses (TWV 55:B5,4) [0:58]
Welschland (northern Italy):
Air à l'italien (TWV 55:B4,2)
[1:28]
Central Italy:
La Badinerie italienne (TWV 55:fis1,4) [1:36]
France:
Menuet I & II (TWV 55:B5,2) [2:42]
Provence:
Rigaudon (TWV 55:E1,8) [0:40]
Lotharingia-Burgundy:
Bourrée (TWV 55:D12,4) [0:54]
England, Scotland, Ireland:
Gigue (TWV 55:D10,6) [1:11]
Scotland:
Hornpipe (TWV 55:g2,6) [1:06]
United Netherlands:
Les Flots (TWV 55:A2,2) [2:29]
Spanish Netherlands:
Carillon (TWV 55:F7,7) [0:33]
Germany:
Les Allemands anciens et modernes (TWV 55:G4,3) [2:37]
Austria:
Rondeau (TWV 55:d1,5) [1:47]
Bavaria:
Prélude (TWV 55:G1,3) [0:52]
Franconia-Swabia-Burgundy:
Fantaisie (TWV 55:G2,6) [1:13]
Upper and Lower Rhine:
Les Cornes de Visbade (TWV 55:B4,3) [1:23]
Westphalia:
Mercure (TWV 55:B3,8) [0:42]
Lower Saxony:
Air (TWV 55:B2,4) [2:23]
Electorate Hanover:
Gavotte en rondeau (TWV 55:G2,3) [0:50]
Convent Hildesheim:
Pastorale (TWV 55:e8,2) [1:09]
Duchy Braunschweig-Wolffenbüttel:
Réjouissance (TWV
55:d2,4) [0:55]
Upper Saxony:
Fugue (TWV 55:c2,4) [2:22]
Bohemia:
Hanaquoise (TWV 55:D3,6) [1:18]
Scandinavia:
Les Danois anciens et modernes (TWV 55:G4,5) [2:26]
Sweden:
Les Suédois anciens et modernes (TWV 55:G4,4)
[3:03]
Russia:
Les Moscovites (TWV 55:B5,5) [1:17]
Poland:
Polonaise (TWV 55:D13,6) [1:17]
Hungary:
March (TWV 55:F6,4) [1:07]
European Turkey:
Les Turcs (TWV 55:B5,3) [1:56]
Asia:
Les Janissaires (TWV 55:D17,2) [0:50]
Asian Turkey:
Mezzetin en turc (TWV 55:B8,7) [1:06]
Africa:
Mourky (TWV 55:g1,4) [1:23]
America:
L'Espérance de Mississippi (TWV 55:B11,6) [2:25]
Closing chorale:
Nun senket euch, ihr Masten [1:13]
Concerto for two violins, viola
and bc in d minor (TWV 43,d2) [10:40]
