Tafelmusik Telemann

While most selections from Georg Philipp Telemann’s famous Tafelmusik could appropriately serve as inspirational musical backdrops to a formal banquet, there are other livelier, more vivacious ones that would auspiciously divert attention from such a setting in all the best of ways. Can you imagine for example not putting down your fork and deferring to the spirited second-movement Réjouissance of the Overture-Suite in E minor, or to the final Allegro of the concerto in A major, or to the third-movement Allegresse or sixth-movement Badinage, both of which are featured in the Overture-Suite in B-flat major? As it turns out, the ever-practical Telemann understood this and titled his grand three-part production more as a means to lure would-be subscribers, irrespective of when and where the music was performed. After all, “Tafelmusik” is a far more appealing title than “a miscellany of concertos, suites, and sonatas”.

Georg Philipp Telemann - Musique de table: The complete Tafelmusik
Freiburger Barockorchester / Petra Mullejans / Gottfried von der Goltz
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 1,2 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Harmonia Mundi # HMC902042.5 | Country/Year: Europe 2010
Genre: Classical | Hoster: Baroque

…Listening while reading along with the score, I was reminded time and again that Telemann’s music is extraordinarily good, and amazed at the quality of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra’s performances. This is an unmitigated joy.

Tafelmusik (table music) is a term used since the mid-16th century for music played at feasts and banquets. Some of the most significant composers of Tafelmusik included Johann Schein and Michael Praetorius, who wrote about the genre in his Syntagma musicum of 1619. Composed in 1733, Telemann s Tafelmusik has been compared as a collection to the renowned Brandenburg Concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach in clearly demonstrating the composer s supreme skill in handling a diversity of musical genres and a variety of instruments. Played here by the Freiburger Barockorchester under the direction of their leader Gottfried von der Goltz, these Baroque gems shine as never before.

“…The precision of ensemble, the crisp articulation and the clarity of texture which Goebel achieves, not perhaps without considerable effort, are admirable features of the Archiv Produktion set and, for sheer efficiency and dependability in such matters, these artists have few rivals…Telemann published his Musique de table in Hamburg in 1733. Each of its three parts or ''Productions'', as he called them, is laid out identically, embracing the principal orchestral and instrumental forms of the late-baroque: French overture and dance suite, quartet, concerto, trio solo sonata and a little orchestral coda, so to speak, which Telemann simply and practically called ''Conclusion''.

This 29CD set provides a superb introduction to this master of the Barock. He is often suffers in comparison to Bach, Handel and Vivaldi mainly because it is so difficult to know where to start with such a vast body of work. This Brilliant Classics box set makes the Telemann experience all the more enjoyable by making this selection and providing a wonderful window into the world of this great composer.

G. P. Telemann - Musique de Table • Tafelmusik • Banquet Music - N. Harnoncourt
Baroque | Easy CD-DA, APE, Cue | No Log | 4 CD, covers |293+240+284+325+5 MB | RS
TELDEC 2292-44688 | 1989

Telemann's Musique de Table or “Banquet Music” is unquestionably one of the most important instrumental collections of the baroque era. Published in 1733, it consists of three large sets or “Productions”; each contains an opening orchestral suite, a quartet, a concerto, a trio, a solo, and an orchestral Conclusion. The whole, then, includes eighteen separate pieces.
Each set would have provided appropriate entertainment for a single evening's festivities at one of Europe's several hundred princely or ducal courts.
Telemann himself engraved the pewter plates for the collection, advertised its publication, and secured 206 subscribers from eight countries, among them a “Mr. Hendel” in London.

Antonius Gerhardus Michael Koopman, known professionally as Ton Koopman, is a Dutch conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist, primarily known for being the founder and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir.

Brilliant Classics' Telemann Edition is a cube-shaped, flip-top box set of 29 CDs, drawn from the label's extensive back list. Georg Philipp Telemann was a major figure of the Baroque era and one of the most prolific composers of that or any age; his massive output encompassed Tafelmusik (music for the table), concertos, orchestral suites, chamber works, keyboard pieces, oratorios, operas, and cantatas. This collection is comprehensive in its coverage, providing an in-depth appreciation of Telemann's highly varied and innovative work, and the performances by a long roster of European musicians show a fine sense for period practices. To fit so many discs into this package, they are protected by thin cardboard sleeves, and the thin booklet that accompanies them gives a brief explanation of Telemann's career and reputation over the succeeding centuries. However, the sound quality is only slightly variable and quite pleasant throughout, and the package as a whole is likely to satisfy any Telemann fan.