Georg Philipp TELEMANN (1681-1767)
Chamber Music for Bassoon and Guitar
Sonata in F minor for bassoon and basso continuo, TWV 41:f1 [10:28]
Fantasia no. 2 for viola da gamba, TWV 40:27 [8:50]
Sonatina in C minor for bassoon and basso continuo, TWV 41:c2 [7:43]
Sonatina in A minor for bassoon and basso continuo, TWV 41:a4 [8:43]
Fantasia no. 12 in E flat major for bassoon solo, (arr. Yuri Leonovich) TWV 40:37 [7:04]
Sonata in E flat major for bassoon and basso continuo, TWV 41:EsA4 (arr. Imre Rudas and Daniel Valentin Marx) [8:17]
Other works arranged by Daniel Valentin Marx
Rainer Seidl (bassoon), Daniel Valentin Marx (guitar)
rec. 2021, Heldenstein, Germany
NAXOS 8.551433 [51:15]
Listening to this enjoyable disc got me thinking about Georg Philipp Telemann, and why it might be that he is still one of the most undervalued of composers. And my belief, for what it’s worth, is that part of it lies in the jaw-droppingly huge quantity of music he composed. There are hundreds of cantatas of various types, many dozens of suites and concertos, something like thirty operas (many of them lost), and almost uncountable quantities of keyboard and chamber music. Surely, if he wrote so much, most of it can’t be any good, can it?
Well the answer is yes, it can! Antonio Vivaldi wrote similar amounts of music (though not as much), but Telemann is far more consistent than the Italian master, and overall, simply a superior creative artist. He lived to the age of eighty-six, quite remarkable in the 18th century, and, as well as all the music, wrote four volumes of autobiography and lots of poetry (including a sonnet on the death of J.S. Bach).
This recording brings together an assortment of pieces either written for bassoon or arranged for it, together with basso continuo parts rendered on the guitar, rather than on the expected keyboard instrument. This actually works very well, especially as the recording has achieved a perfect balance between the two instruments – no mean feat, and the Naxos recording engineer Bernhard Albrecht deserves great credit.
Despite its size, the bassoon is not a loud instrument, and, like other bass instruments, is very easily drowned by an insensitive accompanist. No chance of that here; not only is Daniel Valentin Marx a sensitive supporter, he engages musically in a delightful way with the bassoonist Rainer Seidl, and you can sense the pleasure the two performers take in this modest but resourceful music.
Telemann and J.S. Bach seem to have known each other quite well. It’s amusing that Bach went to Leipzig in 1723 to be Kantor (i.e. Director of Music) at the Thomaskirche – a post that Telemann had turned down the previous year! Telemann had started work in Hamburg, as Kantor of the city’s five main churches. When the opportunity to move to Leipzig came up, the Hamburg authorities offered him a large increase in his salary – they were clearly keen to keep him.
As the booklet note confirms, all the music on this disc was composed during Telemann’s Hamburg years. A minor quibble would be that the opening number, the Sonata in F minor, is a slightly glum work, all four movements firmly in the key of F minor, though of course with occasional digressions. However, it provides the opportunity to admire the playing of bassoonist Rainer Seidl; he has a beautifully firm tone, and it’s just a pity that this music doesn’t give him many chances to play in the bassoon’s upper register, because his sound in that area is magnificent. Although he does include some high Cs in the E flat Fantasia (tracks 17-19) and even comes up with a cheeky high E flat – the one right at the top of the treble clef – in the last item, the Sonata in E flat. His technique is also beyond reproach, allowing him to throw off the many florid passages in this music with apparent ease.
Of course there will be those who will question whether one should play or record this music on a modern instrument as Seidl does (and presumably his partner Marx). For me, it’s really not an issue; I’m convinced that Telemann, like most composers, simply wanted his music performed. In any case, many of these pieces have either been arranged for these instruments, or have been published with specific instructions that they may be played on various instruments (the opening F minor Sonata, for example, is often played on the treble recorder, as Telemann indicates it can be).
I also enjoyed Marx’s performance of the Viola da Gamba Sonata transcribed for guitar, even though it sounds a little bit of a scramble in the final Presto. What works fine on a bowed instrument such as the gamba might not be quite so comfortable for pluckers!
All in all a pleasant, enjoyable and well-recorded CD from these two excellent musicians.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
