MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW
BARGAIN OF THE MONTH



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Georg Philipp TELEMANN (1681 - 1767)
Early Concertos and Sonatas
Concerto for trumpet, violin, cello, strings and bc in D (TWV 53,D5) [14:13]
Concerto a 4 for two violins, viola and bc in d minor (TWV 43,d2) [9:29]
Concerto for viola, strings and bc in G (TWV 51,G9) [12:45]
Sonata for 2 violins, 2 violas and bc in e minor (TWV 44,e5) [8:28]
Concerto for horn, strings and bc in D (TWV 51,D8) [8:51]
Concerto a 4 for two violins, viola and bc in D (TWV 43,D4) [7:26]
Andreas Lackner (trumpet), Johannes Hinterholzner (horn), Andrea Rognoni (violin), Stefano Marcocchi (viola)
Ensemble Cordia/Stefano Veggetti (cello)
rec. 7-9 August 2009, Pfarrkirche in Kiens (Southern Tirol), Austria. DDD
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 94208 [61:17]

Experience Classicsonline




If you think you know your Telemann, purchase this disc and you will hear music which you probably have never heard before. The best-known piece is the viola concerto. The triple concerto which opens this disc should not be totally unfamiliar either. The other pieces are seldom performed. The whole programme consists of compositions from Telemann's early years. Most of them were not written for the average music-lover from the bourgeoisie.

Take the very first item of the programme. It is scored for three solo instruments: the trumpet, the violin and the cello. It is unlikely any amateur played the trumpet. But what we have here is not so much a triple concerto but a true violin concerto. Its violin part is unusually virtuosic. Telemann was not a great lover of virtuosity, and that is why he always kept a little distant from the solo concerto. Telemann scholar Steven Zohn suggests in his programme notes that this concerto may have been written for Johann Georg Pisendel, the star violinist of the Dresden court orchestra. He also copied a set of parts of this piece. The double-stopping in the first movement is highly unusual in Telemann's oeuvre and suggests a linkage with the brilliant German violin school of which Pisendel was a representative. The trumpet is silent in the slow movement. In the last movement cellist Stefano Veggetti plays a cadenza; I wonder whether there is an indication for that in the score. Considering that the cello doesn't play a prominent role this seems implausible.

The fact that the trumpet is not involved in the slow movement of this concerto doesn't surprise - it was common practice at the time that the trumpet and the horn only participated in fast movements. It is therefore quite surprising that in the Concerto in D the horn plays in all movements, including the largo in the middle. The horn was mostly associated with the hunt, which was one of the main occupations of royalty and aristocracy. Therefore this concerto, like the concerto for two horns in Telemann's Tafelmusik, can be considered a courtsey to Dresden. Considering the connection with the hunt the involvement of the horn in the slow movement is all the more remarkable. It shows that the horn can play a part of a lyrical and expressive nature.

The Concerto for viola in G may belong to the better-known aspect of Telemann’s oeuvre; it is nevertheless noticeable, especially as the number of viola concertos of the baroque era is very small. This is also Telemann's only concerto for this instrument, probably written on request of a violinist or violist, or - as Steven Zohn suggests - for himself to play. After all, the violin was his principal instrument, and violinists usually were able to play the viola as well. It is a beautiful piece, with a hunting melody in the ritornello of the second movement. It has never been published - like all the compositions on this disc - but was available from Breitkopf in Leipzig in the 1760s, showing that there was a market for such concertos.

The Concertos in D and in d minor (D4 and d2 respectively) are so-called ripieno concertos as we know them from Vivaldi's oeuvre. They are scored for strings and basso continuo, without solo parts. That doesn't mean there are no solo episodes. In the Concerto in d minor, for instance, the viola plays a prominent role in the opening largo, whereas the principals of the first and second violins have solo episodes to play in the next allegro. In the second movement - without tempo indication - of the Concerto in D the first violin has a quite virtuosic solo as well. The amount of counterpoint in these pieces is notable. This is a feature of Telemann's early compositions and something he would generally avoid in his later works for amateur musicians. The two fast movements of the Concerto in D are fugues.

Counterpoint is also a feature of the Sonata in e minor, scored for two violins, two violas and bc. That scoring is already an indication of its rooting in the past, as five-part string textures are typical for German instrumental music of the 17th century. This sonata also contains some influences of Corelli, someone Telemann admired; he also wrote a series of Corellisierende Sonaten. This sonata was probably written during Telemann's time in Eisenach where he acted as Konzertmeister from 1707 to 1712.

This disc is a model of adventurous and imaginative programming. Right now so many of Telemann's compositions are available on disc that it isn't that easy to find lacunae. The title page of the booklet says "first recording", but that is not quite true. The viola concerto and the triple concerto are available in various recordings. The Concerto in d minor was recorded by Harmonie Universelle (Eloquentia EL 0502), whose disc contains some other early pieces by Telemann. It is quite possible that the other compositions have also been recorded before. Even so, these specimens of Telemann's early style are not often played and mostly are not that easily obtainable in recordings. That makes this disc a worthwhile and interesting addition to the Telemann discography. Moreover, the playing is of the highest calibre. The ensemble is immaculate, and the soloists make great impression by their playing. This is simply an outstanding disc.

It is a shame that the production is a bit sloppy. The track-list is error-ridden: the first concerto is not D3, but D5, the viola concerto is not in D, but in G and the catalogue number (43,D4) is also wrong. These errors are corrected in the header of this review.

Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen




 

 

 


 

 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.