Haydn Symphony 192

On this album, the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge performs alongside four soloists and the period instrument ensemble St John’s Sinfonia. The tenor Sam Furness and bass George Humphreys both started their careers as Choral Scholars with this very choir.

Who was Thomas Dyck Ackland Tellefsen? Outside of his native Norway, Tellefsen is not a household name in the romantic piano literature. Listening to the Mazurkas that open this disc, the influence of Frederic Chopin is unmistakable, and for good reason. Tellefsen moved to Paris in his twenties, met the great Polish composer, and, the rest they say, is history. But rather than being solely derivative, Tellefsen’s piano works, and we get all fifty-three here in chronologic order, show progressive melodic development. No doubt we continue to hear the voice of the master but this is much as would be the case for those coming to early Mozart after hearing his musical predecessor and mentor, Haydn. What aids the cause for Tellefsen’s catalog is the committed performance by one of Norway’s preeminent pianists, Jorgen Larsen, who treats even the smallest work as a miniature masterpiece.