Standage

The first disc of the ever-fresh Op 6 Concertigrossi includes the oboe parts that Handel later added to Nos 1, 2, 5 and 6. The performances are brimful of vitality, and the clean articulation and light, predominantly detached style give the music buoyancy and help to bring out Handel's often mischievous twinkle in the eye. Speeds are generally brisk, with boldly vigorous playing, but Standage's team can also spin a tranquil broad line. Dynamics throughout are subtly graded, and except in one final cadence ornamentation is confined to small cadential trills.

On the second disc, except, in the sombre colours in the splendid G minor Concerto (No 6) – here with oboe and the agreeable addition of a theorbo to the continuo – there's a general air of cheerfulness that's most engaging. The fugue in No 7 is wittily buoyant, the Allegro in No 9, borrowed from the Cuckoo and the nightingale Organ Concerto, could scarcely be more high-spirited, the final Passepied of No 6 and the Hornpipe of No 7 are spring-toed; and Standage's feeling for convincing tempos is nowhere better shown than in the long Musette of No 6, which in other hands can drag. Phrasing everywhere is shapely, and the surprise chords that interrupt the flow of No 8's Allemande are admirably 'placed'.

With this album, Simon Standage continues his survey of the 40 odd concertos for strings by Vivaldi. As with period practice, winds are added to a few of the works. The continuo consists of harpsichord and guitar, the latter a very appealing sounding period instrument. There is less unity of mood on this album than on Volume 1 of this series. Instead, one is prone to gasp at Vivaldi's prodigious invention.

This is yet another addition to the Collegium Musicum 90's superb series of Telemann recordings. Their tone is suitably mellow, much more attuned to the baroque sensibility than any other period instruments orchestra I can think of. The works here are totally engaging. The chalumeau is a predecessor of the clarinet. It makes a woody, somewhat recorder-like sound, and, on this showing, has a limited amount of versatility. Telemann's writing for two of them at once features close harmonies and gentle melodies, elegantly balanced against the full orchestra. The soloists in these works appear to be excellent players. As for the viola concerto, it is one of the most beautiful works of the baroque and has appreared on recordings a number of times.

Collegium Musicum 90 was founded by Simon Standage and the late Richard Hickox in 1990, and is today a well-established ensemble for the performance of baroque and classical music, with a repertoire ranging from chamber music to large-scale works for choir and orchestra. As an exclusive Chandos artist, the ensemble has recorded more than fifty CDs for the label, which includes nine discs of instrumental music by Telemann. In recognition of the success of the Telemann series in promoting the reputation of the composer, Simon Standage was awarded the Georg-Philipp-Telemann-Preis in 2010.

Collegium Music 90, under the inspired direction of Simon Standage, performs a selection of Telemann’s French and Italian-influenced music.
Collegium Musicum 90 is regarded as one of the premiere early music groups today. Under the direction of Simon Standage it has explored both unusual and popular repertoire and received superb reviews.
Telemann was a contemporary and friend of both Bach and Handel and was the most commercially successful composer working in the first half of the eighteenth century.

With this recording, Simon Standage becomes the first period violinist to record the Bach violin concertos twice, having previously done them with The English Concert back in 1983. Then, directed by Pinnock, he gave us startlingly quick outer movements sandwiching indulgently slow middle ones; the newer performances, which are under his own direction, adopt a less extreme approach to tempo, so we can perhaps assume that this is what he would have preferred all along. It is a more conventional view, certainly, but ultimately a more satisfying one.

Collegium Musicum 90’s sterling work on behalf of Telemann continues with this pleasing selection of five orchestral works, two of which – the Ouverture-Suite in F sharp minor and the Concerto for two Oboes d’amore – are otherwise not currently in the catalogue, and two of which – a violin concerto composed for Pisendel and an Ouverture-Suite in D major – are found there in only one other version.

Five lesser-known pieces (one orchestral suite and four instrumental concertos) from the over-abundant pen of Georg Philipp Telemann are presented in this second collection by the British ensemble Collegium Musicum 90, here directed by its co-founder, gifted violinist Simon Standage, whose earlier recordings with the English Concert and the Academy of Ancient Music are the guarantors of his classiness.

Chandos’s set of Handel’s op 6 ’Grand Concertos’ here reaches completion in appropriately superb style As before, Simon Standage paces Handel’s inexhaustible inventive music with unerring judgement and a good instinct for embellishment This is the version to have if you want period instruments …