Instruments in The Redeemer's Hands

Iona Brown, violinist and sometime conductor of the Academy of St. Martin and the fields, clearly understood how different Telemann was from other baroque composers - and what was needed to really bring out his special qualities. Unlike J.S. Bach and Handel, who were keyboard virtuosi, Telemann, who had unusual interest in and an especially keen ear for instrumental sonorities, spent his early years (secretly) learning to play all the instruments available in his time. Despite his prodigious musical gifts, his upper middle class family did not want him pursuing what was then the low occupation of musician.