Telemann Camerata

Georg Philipp Telemann's Fortsetzung des Harmonisches Gottesdienstes is a sprawling published collection of sacred cantatas, one cantata for every Sunday and feast day in the church calendar, 72 cantatas in all. This colossal project made its bow in 1731, and is actually a sequel to an equally huge collection that Telemann published in 1725, Harmonischer Gottesdienst. About the only small thing in Fortsetzung are the performance dimensions of the individual cantatas, scored for solo voice, an instrument or two, and continuo.

Copenhagen-based early music ensemble Camerata Øresund takes a musical voyage throughout baroque Europe on their debut recording Pas de bourrée . Suites of dances by Campra, Roman and Purcell alternate with concertos by Bach and Vivaldi and a programme work by Telemann. A theme of travel and journeying unites these pieces. Camerata Øresund cannot keep their feet still even in the most virtuoso of concertos. They dance an energetic "pas de bourrée" to the Allegro of Bach's Harpsichord Concerto, whilst the slow movement from Vivaldi's L’estro armonico is transformed into a hypnotic Sarabande. Pas de bourrée is a colourful kaleidoscope of moods, emotions, characters and stories. Camerata Øresund remains true to their promise that everything they touch will turn into a dance.

During the 1720s and 1730s Telemann prepared and to a large extent oversaw the printing and publication of a wide diversity of compositions. Chamber cantatas, concertos, orchestral suites, solos, trios and quartets were all represented. The high-water mark of chamber music publications came in the late 1730s with the set of six Paris Quartets (1738) and the Essercizii Musici (c1739). While almost every one of the 24 pieces contained in the latter collection has been recorded in the past, this is the first time that they have been issued as a complete set on disc. There is not a weak composition among them and Read more Telemann’s collection deserves its place among the most accomplished chamber music anthologies of the late baroque.

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. (James Manheim)

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.

If you're up for nearly 160 minutes of quintessentially charming German baroque chamber music, here is the set for you. The Camerata Köln lucidly performs Telemann's six concertos and suites with as much style and invention as we're ever likely to hear. These players clearly understand how Telemann's inventive variety of dance forms, sudden chromatic harmonic shifts, and parallel note sequences reflect his awareness of national styles outside of Germany. They also tactfully embrace the improvisatory freedom Telemann encouraged. If you've enjoyed Telemann's more well known (and recorded) Paris Quartets or Methodic Sonatas, or his famous Tafelmusik series, you'll likely enjoy these debut performances as well. (John Greene, ClassicsToday.com)