Don’t expect Telemann’s
Violin Concertos to match the Viola
Concerto in lyric generosity or sheer
memorability. He composed at least twenty
violin concertos for his own use (he
was a noted multi-instrumentalist),
the earliest dating from c1707-08. They
adhere to his usual Franco-Italian models,
though are constructed with such cleverness
and authority, and technical understanding,
that the Corellian, Vivaldian and French
elements are, if not absorbed into the
bloodstream, at least present without
sounding to be pastiche.
The seven concertos
in CPO’s first volume divide roughly
evenly between three and four movement
concertos. The C major is steeped in
that noble and stately delicacy of which
Telemann was an exemplar in music. The
string and wind lines are well delineated
in this performance (L’Orfeo Barockorchester
is made up 7-2-2-1) and the occasional
novelties of texture and sound are best
heard in the Allegro where the hurdy
gurdy imitations are captivatingly done
– not overdone either. Throughout this
concerto the solo violin remains primus
inter pares, emerging from the orchestral
texture for ritornello moments, rather
than explicitly lyric ones. The little
three-movement G major is notable for
delicate pianissimo in the slow movement
– very affecting – and a brisk and cogently
argued finale. The E minor drinks deeply
and unashamedly from Vivaldi’s near
inexhaustible well but the D major TWV
51;D9 strikes a richer, more personalised
stance. Here the delicate and ingratiating
Francophile opening (con contento) is
followed by a ritornello-rich Allegro
with decorative figuration for the soloist.
The heart of the affair is the affecting
slow movement – but one in which the
soloist isn’t spotlit lyrically; rather
the solo line emerges from the orchestral
texture with perfect judgement.
The E major displays
all Telemann’s most laudable characteristics;
ingenious orchestral sonority, a sense
of musical balance and harmonic invention.
Formality is met by lyrical invention
- and the solo violin is supported by
discreet string and wind writing. The
F major sports a very Handelian Presto
finale and the disc ends with the little
D major, TWV 51: D10, a brisk Corellian
work that pays due homage to its older
models and flaunts a hilarious sliver
of a portentous Adagio (all forty-one
seconds of it).
Performances, as intimated,
are characterful and full of finesse.
There are no virtuoso demands placed
on Wallfisch’s technique but the solo/ritornello
interplay is well calibrated and well
caught by CPO’s engineers and the notes
are rightfully admiring of Telemann’s
skill and moments of quixotic colour.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review
by Kevin Sutton
L’Orfeo Barockorchester 