George Philipp TELEMANN (1681-1767)
Overture for 2 horns, 2 oboes, bassoon and strings in F major TWV55:F3 [24:06]
Violin Concerto in A minor TWV51:a1 [7:16]
Concerto for flute and strings in D major TWV51:D1 [16:15]
Concerto for flute, violin and strings in E minor TWV52:e3 [9:24]
Concerto for flute and strings in D major TWV51:D2 [12:49]
Les Ambassadeurs/Alexis Kossenko (director/flute)
Zefira Valova (violin)
rec. Temple St Marcel, Paris, 2014
ALPHA 200 [70:23]
The booklet discusses Telemann's quite recent re-emergence
as a major figure of the Baroque period and goes on to emphasize the quality
of the music on this CD. Telemann has lost out first to Bach and Handel and
more recently to Vivaldi. In his day he was very highly rated and indeed celebrated
Europe-wide, more so than J.S. Bach. Apart from being successful, he was a
skilled marketeer for his music, even adopting the anagramatic pseudonym Melante
to encourage purchasers in search of Italianate music to buy his compositions.
The Violin Concerto recorded here is an example. The argument advanced to
justify Telemann's comparative neglect since is the same as that used
against Vivaldi: how can a man who wrote so much music hold to any sort of
high standard? By avoiding playing his music anyone can subscribe to this
opinion. The sterling efforts of Caro Mitis to record a prize-winning series
of what they describe as his 'Complete Orchestral Suites' —
complete only in terms of those that have survived - some few dozen out of
possibly 200 — finally settled matters in Telemann's favour.
His music is as varied and imaginative as that of the other great Baroque
composers named above. Caros Mitis and their superb period orchestra Pratum
Integrum seem to have dropped by the wayside far short of completion and nothing
new has appeared since 2011. This is a pity because their magnificent SACDs
really set the standard. I was pleased therefore to discover that the Overture-Suite
TWV55:F3 recorded here was not in the Caro Mitis cycle so far, making the
first 24 minutes of this CD worth buying for that reason alone. It was easy
to look at the remaining works as somehow lesser creations. Flute concertos,
even those by Mozart, are not generally worth more than a cursory listen —
Nielsen excluded. I am happy to eat my words for these three involving flute
— they are tuneful, even soulful at times, and very engaging listening,
as is the short but very sweet violin concerto.
Les Ambassadeurs are appropriately named for they are indeed excellent ambassadors
for Telemann, fully the equal of Pratum Integrum, playing with drive and skill
under their flautist director Alexis Kossenko. The picture of a smiling group
of mostly young musicians encourages confidence, even though the photo includes
some instrumentalists clearly not on this disc and excludes the astonishing
horn players who display a fearless virtuosity in TWV55:F3. The note has much
on the corno da caccia and what is correctly, but amusingly, described
as 'the traditions of venery' to make up for the missing photos.
This selection of pieces were all held in the Darmstadt library and that is
the reason offered for recording them together. I cannot praise this lovely
disc highly enough both to those who know Telemann and those still in doubt.
Dave Billinge
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