Graupner Orchestral

Telemann's connection with Darmstadt is typical of a composer who cast his net widely on the path to becoming Germany's most acclaimed composer. Appointed to his Frankfurt post in 1712 Telemann was shrewd enough to realize that to 'get on' he needed to write music for the best. In instrumental terms, he was lucky enough to be based less than 20 miles from the Darmstadt court of Ernst Ludwig VII, a music-loving nobleman who had at his disposal a fine orchestra of musicians, many recruited from Paris, trained by the court Kapellmeister, Johann Christoph Graupner (known largely through his turning down the cantorate at St Thomas's Leipzig before Bach was reluctantly found to be an acceptable choice).

Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch is an unusually versatile violinist, predominantly known for her performance of period music but also excelling in many other styles and genres. Her position as concertmaster in the orchestra of Philippe Herreweghe is testament to her skill as an early music performer.

"The Scholl/Herreweghe CD is distinguished by its marriage of beautiful sound and expressive intensity. The richly nuanced orchestral playing remains forceful throughout and Scholl imbues his beguiling voice with a fervent conviction…"

It's a fairly well known fact that Bach had a keen interest in music of his musical ancestors as well as his contemporaries. His library contained music of other German composers as well as music from France and Italy. Among the composers whose music found a home on Bach's shelves were Antonio Vivaldi, Christoph Graupner, and Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758). Whether or not Bach ever performed this music with his Collegium Musicum at Zimmermann's Coffee House in Leipzig is unknown, but Bach thought enough of the music of these and other composers to seek it out and collect it.