Warner
Classics are clearly searching deep into their catalogue for super
budget price recordings for their Apex label. With this re-release
of a selection of four Telemann concertos Warners are scraping
the barrel rather than trawling the depths. These recordings are
now almost forty years old, first released back in 1966 which
seems an awful long time ago; the last time England won the Soccer
World Cup.
A
prestigious yearbook of classical reviews rates these performances
highly but I am afraid that I cannot agree as the context has
changed considerably since 1966. These performances by performers
that are largely household names, particularly Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
the director and Frans Brüggen on the recorder, were made
when period instrument performance was in its infancy. These readings
just do not stand up to the specialist period instrument performers
of today who have moved forward in technique and interpretation
by tremendous leaps and bounds. Contemporary ensembles such as
the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Europa Galante, Freiburger Barockorchester,
Ensemble Explorations, Florilegium, Concerto Italiano, Berliner
Barock Solisten, et al are the new kids on the block and
I feel are in a very different league with their late-baroque
interpretations.
I
am sincerely grateful to these performers and their contemporaries
for leading the way as torch-bearers for authentic instrument
performances however I found these Telemann readings difficult
and frustrating to listen to. Perhaps the best example is to be
found in the Overture in F major for two horns, violins and
basso continuo where the playing of the two natural horns
leaves a lot to be desired especially by today’s high standards.
I don’t pretend to be a natural horn player and I do not wish
to diminish how difficult the instrument must be to play but the
horn players just couldn’t keep up with the technicalities of
the score and they sounded woefully out of tune at times. Listening
to this work was not a pleasure but an ordeal which often made
me cringe. Elsewhere on the recording the performances seemed
as dull as ditchwater which is no help to the music as I feel
Telemann’s scores often need that extra touch of expression and
panache to enliven the proceedings.
These
are fine scores by the talented Telemann and the programme is
a colourful and varied one too but the performances are now showing
their age badly. The sound quality too could be vastly improved
upon. The piercing sonics in the higher registers are excessive
especially from the recorder and the forte passages often
sounded blurred around the edges. This recording has been released
several times and by now I’m sure that the owners must have had
their money’s worth. One has to be cruel to be kind sometimes
and these performances have had their day at the races and now
should be retired to pasture.
Michael
Cookson
Early
Music
Frans Brüggen (recorder);
Otto Fleischmann (bassoon) (1) 
