The Godfather: Masters of the German & Italian Baroque
Georg Philipp TELEMANN (1681-1767)
Concerto in D, TWV54:D3 [11:16]
Johann Georg PISENDEL (1687-1755)
Concerto movement in a minor [4:18]
Concerto movement in E-flat, Jung II:1 [6:13]
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Concerto movement in D, BWV1045 [6:31]
Giuseppe Antonio BRESCIANELLO (c.1690-1758)
Concerto in B-flat [12:06]
Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741)
Concerto movement in B-flat, RV745 [3:52]
Concerto in A, RV158 [8:29]
Johann Friedrich FASCH (1688-1758)
Concerto in D, FWV L:D3 [11:23]
La Serenissima/Adrian Chandler
(violin)
rec. 2019, Cedars Hall, Wells Cathedral School, UK
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD602
[64:08]
Georg Philipp TELEMANN (1681–1767)
The Grand Concertos for Mixed Instruments, Volume VI
Sinfonia Melodica
in C for 2 oboes, bassoon, strings & bc, TWV50:2 [9:52]
Concerto in E-flat for 2 horns, 2 violins, strings & bc, TWV54:Es1
(from Musique de table) [15:00]
Concerto (Septet) in B-flat for 3 oboes, 3 violins & bc, TWV44:43
[9:35]
Concerto (Sonata) in e minor for 2 oboes, bassoon, strings & bc,
TWV50:4 [12:52]
Concerto A for flute, violin, violoncello, strings & bc, TWV53: A2
(from Musique de table) [25:40]
La Stagione Frankfurt/Michael Schneider
rec. 2018, Deutschland Kammermusiksaal
CPO 555239-2
[73:13]
Some series there are which get things so consistently right that after
five releases it’s very difficult to say anything new about them. Such were
the Bach cantata recordings of Masaaki Suzuki (BIS) and John Eliot Gardiner
(DG and SDG) and such are the continuing series of Palestrina’s music from
The Sixteen (most recently Volume 8, Coro, COR16175, reviewed in my
Autumn 2019/2 round-up)
and The Tallis Scholars’ recordings of the music of Josquin (most recently
the Missa Mater Patris and Bauldeweyn? Missa Da Pacem,
CDGIM052 - review pending).
Such, too, are La Serenissima’s several recordings of the music of the
Italian Golden Age and La Stagione’s now concluded series of Telemann’s
‘Grand’ Concertos. The only difference is that La Serenissima have changed labels, from Avie
to Signum, while Michael Schneider’s team continue to work for CPO, who
must have done more for Telemann than any other label (ever?), with La
Stagione major contributors.
Every recording from La Serenissima that has come my way has tested
my vocabulary for new things to say. Most recently, the only reservation
that occurred to me in reviewing Vivaldi x2 was the rather odd
double image of a Fiat 500 on the cover; otherwise I thought it
‘Serenissima indeed’ (AV2392 –
review). Michael Cookson thought it ‘a sure-fire winner’ –
review
– and Dave Billinge awarded ‘Recording of the Month’ status –
review.
Signum run the risk of confusing us: they already had a recording entitled Telemann: The Virtuoso Godfather (SIGCD086 –
review)
and BIS have one entitled The Father, the Son and the Godfather
(BIS-1895 –
review). Telemann’s music features in all three: with his godsons Kress and CPE
Bach on the earlier Signum and with JS and CPE Bach on BIS. The net is cast
a little wider for La Serenissima’s new recording but the concept of a
connection, in this case from Vivaldi via Pisendel in Dresden, for whom
Vivaldi composed, to Telemann, Bach and Fasch, is maintained.
Telemann is again the central figure on the new release. Though he
asserted that French music was the main influence on him, this album
reminds us that he was also open to that of Italy in his later works. The
notes surmise that it was his friend Pisendel, a former student of Torelli
and Vivaldi who commissioned music from the latter, who chiefly influenced
him. With Bach’s friendship with Pisendel and Telemann, the latter the
godfather of Fasch, the circle is completed.
With plenty of music by Vivaldi on offer on this ensemble’s earlier
recordings, just two short works are included here. The string concerto,
RV158, sometimes known as ‘concerto ripieno’, features on a 4-CD Brilliant
Classics set of the string concertos and sinfonias from L’Archicembalo
which I recently
reviewed
(95835). La Serenissima take it a mite more slowly and, though I enjoyed
the Brilliant collection – an excellent bargain – Adrian Chandler and his
team make an even stronger case. I just wondered why they didn’t choose one
of the concertos which Vivaldi wrote for Pisendel to play in Dresden, but
there’s ample opportunity to hear these, not least on four Naxos CDs from
Accademia i Filarmonici and Alberto Martini (8.553792, 8.553793, 8.553860
and 8.554310), with a shorter selection from the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
(Naïve OP30283 –
review; download only).
La Serenissima’s undoubted expertise in Vivaldi is now equalled by their
Telemann. The opening Concerto in D has been recorded several times with
distinction: not least by the Akademie für alte Musik Berlin (Telemann Concerti per molti stromenti, Harmonia Mundi HMM902261: Recording of
the Month –
review
–
review), by La Stagione on Volume 3 of their Telemann ‘Grand’ concertos series
(CPO 777891-2 –
review)
and on an older Telemann recording still well worth considering from
Collegium Musicum 90 (Chandos CHAN0547, notable for the ‘Alster-Ouverture’
and the ‘Grillen-symphonie’). Those are fine all-Telemann special collections,
but I’d find it hard to prefer any one of them to La Serenissima on the new
album.
Fasch, too, is new to La Serenissima’s repertoire, but their account of his
Concerto in D which closes the programme makes a better case for the
composer than any of the three rather underpowered recordings of his music
from La Tempesta di Mare (Chandos CHAN0751 –
review
– CHAN0783 –
DL Roundup November 2011/1
– and CHAN0791 –
review). Also better than either Chandos recording is the selection
played by Il Gardellino (Accent ACC24252 –
DL Roundup December 2011/1).
I don’t recall coming across music by Brescianello, another Italian
composer associated with Dresden, but there’s more of his music on record than I thought
and this performance of his Concerto in B-flat will certainly encourage me
to check it out. Naxos Music Library is a good place to start, notably with
his Sinfonia in D on a CPO recording of music for the Dresden court (with
Pisendel, Fasch, etc., 777782-2 –
review).
Reviewing Volume 4 of the CPO collection, I warned readers that they
would want its predecessors, too (777892-2 –
review)
and though Johan van Veen thought the performances a tad too restrained
at times, he was in general agreement –
review.
One very small reservation; the cover picture for Volume 6 is almost
identical to that predecessor.
Michael Cookson thought Volume 5 ‘splendidly played’ (555082-2 –
review). I missed that when it was released but, having listened via
Naxos Music Library,
I can but agree.
As with earlier volumes in the CPO series, there is little
competition for much of the new release. The opening Sinfonia Melodica, for example, has only one other current recording
to its credit, from Berliner Barocksolisten and Rainer Kußmaul, a 2005
album mainly designed to show the artistry of oboist Albrecht Mayer in
Telemann (DG 4775923, download only). That’s a lively performance and, of
course, Mayer is superb throughout. The recording gives him prominence, but
Annette Spehr and Peter Westermann are equally fine on CPO and the balance
is more natural; after all, this is a Sinfonia, not a concerto,
though the soloists are never lost in the mix.
The two excerpts from Tafelmusik – here given its French equivalent
title Musique de Table – are as well performed, too, as any
recording that I have heard, including complete collections of the three
sections of that work, such as the Concentus Musicus directed by Nikolaus
Harnoncourt (Warner Das Alte Werk 4775923, 4 CDs around £14). Don’t be
surprised, indeed, if the CPO leads you to that very inexpensive complete
edition, which actually costs less than the Naxos 4-CD collection with the
Orchestra of the Golden Age, though that remains available on separate CDs
for those not requiring the whole thing and is well worth considering.
Tafelmusik was meant to be the equivalent of the ‘musack’ which pervades our shopping
centres and not to disturb an elaborate meal, those eighteenth-century
diners would surely have taken notice of performances of this quality, not
least from La Stagione on the new CPO and earlier volumes.
Which volume of the CPO series should you begin with? That I can’t decide –
any one of them is sure to lead you to the others, if only by streaming
from Naxos Music Library, where Volume 6 is bound to join its predecessors
in due course. Nor can I really choose between the new CPO and Signum
releases; both represent very fine additions to the discography by these
two first-rate ensembles. If you have to plump, perhaps it should be for
the Signum, to celebrate La Serenissima breaking new ground.
Brian Wilson
