GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN : Hamburgische Kapitänsmusik 1755 (La Stagione Frankfurt · Michael Schneider) 2CD (1999) APE (image+.cue) lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

TELEMANN : Wind Concertos, Vol. 1 (Michael Schneider) (2007) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Germany's CPO label has presented the efforts of performers who have doggedly unearthed unknown music of various periods, especially the eighteenth century. With the voluminous corpus of concertos by Telemann, many of which exist only in manuscript, they enter a field with a lot of still-uncharted territory. This set of wind concertos is one of the label's most useful releases despite a few quirks. The music offers a good quick overview of the various influences at work in Telemann's concertos, which began with the seventeenth century concerto structure of a sequence of short elements resembling rhetorical figures but overlaid them with Italian and (especially) French influences. There are hints of Handel, Couperin, Corelli, Bach, and other composers, but there is a lightness and enthusiasm throughout that is entirely Telemann's own. Almost everything Telemann touched he treated with imagination, and the five concertos here are full of delightful touches. Hear the rustic Presto (track 8) that closes the Concerto in E minor for recorder, transverse flute, strings, and continuo, TWV 52:E1, with its unmistakable Polish flavor neatly enclosed in the form of a French suite movement. That concerto is also masterful in its handling of the closely related but distinct sounds of the transverse flute and the recorder, and there's a good deal of elegantly virtuosic recorder writing on display throughout. Recorder soloist Michael Schneider is less flamboyant than others among the crop of recorder stars, but moves confidently through ornamentation that is often built directly into the structures of the music. The early instrument group La Stagione Frankfurt is impressive, especially in the opening Concerto for two horns, strings, and continuo, TWV 52:D2, where the natural horns never overwhelm the small group and are given just the right impact. The sonic ground shifts slightly with the introduction of a new group, the Camerata Köln, for the Concerto da camera in G minor for recorder, two violins, and continuo, TWV 43:g3; although Schneider appears here as recorder soloist as well, it's a little odd to switch ensembles in the middle of the recording. The sound is not especially attractive, with a good deal of background noise, but this remains a good, quick hike through the vast terrain of Telemann's concertos. by James Manheim 

TELEMANN : Wind Concertos, Vol. 2 (Michael Schneider) (2008) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The varied forces of Georg Philipp Telemann's instrumental music require a flexible ensemble to give a sense of the music's range. In this case, two German historical-instrument ensembles, La Stagione Frankfurt and the veteran Camerata Köln, join forces for a set of concertos with a delightfully varied set of soloists. This music has the odd combination of lightness and unorthodoxy that tends to either attract or repel those who listen to Telemann. The concertos, in three or four Italianate movements, are among his most progressive works, none more so than the Concerto in D major for two horns, strings, and continuo, TWV 52:D1, where the continuity of Baroque texture breaks up entirely: at one point the horns seem to inhabit their own stately sphere as the strings pause to let them pass. But each of the concertos has moments as unusual, if not quite as dramatic. Perhaps the massing of the two groups led to a somewhat deadpan performance in which the sharper edges of each group were filed off, but this is to the good in Telemann, whose work was meant for the common run of players; you don't want to hear the players competing with the little surprises in the music. Both the technical level of the playing and the sound are fine, and any Baroque listener will have a good time with this disc and its volume-one companion. by James Manheim 

TELEMANN : Wind Concertos, Vol. 3 (Michael Schneider) (2008) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

TELEMANN : Wind Concertos, Vol. 4 (Michael Schneider) (2009) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

 

TELEMANN : Wind Concertos, Vol. 5 (Michael Schneider) (2010) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

TELEMANN : Wind Concertos, Vol. 6 (Michael Schneider) (2011) Mp3

TELEMANN : Wind Concertos, Vol. 7 (Michael Schneider) (2011) Mp3

TELEMANN : Wind Concertos, Vol. 8 (Michael Schneider) (2012) Mp3