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Product Description
BBC Music Magazine
Reinhard Goebel and his Cologne musicians have put together a diverting Telemann programme, mostly, and characteristically, well off the beaten track. Indeed, from a colourfully varied clutch of seven works for strings, only the Viola Concerto is likely to strike a familiar note with readers. Telemann was fascinated by Polish folk rhythms almost throughout his life, and they acted frequently as a source of inspiration for colours and rhythmic patterns in his own music. Two Concertos polonois bear witness to his skill in incorporating such ideas into pieces of great charm and comparative sophistication. Both works were recorded many years ago by Eduard Melkus and his Vienna Capella Academica, but they have never, as far as I know, found their way on to CD. Goebel brings enormous character to the music, revelling in its rhythmic caprices and warm textures. The Viola Concerto comes over well, too, in the expressive hands of soloist Florian Deuter; his third-movement Andante must be the fastest on record; oddly enough, after the initial shock, it struck my ears as effective. But the greatest interest perhaps lies in two string divertimenti, dating from 1765. Though 84 years old, Telemann produced some astonishingly fresh, vigorous and stylistically advanced music in that year, including the dramatic cantata Ino which certainly must be considered among the very finest of all products of his pen. An excellent release.
Performance *****
Sound *****
© BBC Music Magazine 2000
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Not quite the freshness of 10 years before but this is the companion volume to the set I reviewed rather unfavourably here. This is more debonair, decisive and expressive (in the baroque sense). It's true (see above) that the Viola conc. is the least successful (not such a good piece for a start), but the panache and envole' of this selection is first class. (As the Amazon note saying how surprising it is that T. wrote such good music "even 84 years old" one weeps to behold the idiocy of it, as if composition were... race walking for example.)
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Despite the interesting colours and textures of this recording, the exemplary accompanying booklet and the prestige of the ensemble (Musica Antiqua Koln, no less) I was left wanting more. No, hang on, less. Isn't there a tendency nowadays, to 'rejuvenate' and 'reinterpret' familiar works too obsessively, in a relentless search for novelty and acclaim?
Here, by far the best-known concerto is that for viola, in G. Unfortunately, the piece has been trilled and turned almost beyond recognition. What's more, the choice of tempi is occasionally bizarre. The only possible connection in the third movement between 'Andante' and walking is with that faintly ridiculous variety found on the athletics track. In isolation, each of these quirky elements would be tolerable. Together, they are unsettling. The final effect is one of over-decorative fussiness that detracts from Telemann's simplicity of line.
This pernicious impulse to over-embellish afflicts the other better-known work on the CD, the Concerto Polonois in G, which receives particularly excessive ornamentation in the first movement. Here, though, the sonorous depths of the basso continuo, featuring Michael Ducker's cholashon, compensates to a large extent (not least because I'd never even heard of, let alone heard, this instrument before). And here, too, the sprightliness of the Largo doesn't seem too faddish for its own good.
Were it not for the misguided attempt to gild the lily, this could, and perhaps should, have been a definitive recording.
Here, by far the best-known concerto is that for viola, in G. Unfortunately, the piece has been trilled and turned almost beyond recognition. What's more, the choice of tempi is occasionally bizarre. The only possible connection in the third movement between 'Andante' and walking is with that faintly ridiculous variety found on the athletics track. In isolation, each of these quirky elements would be tolerable. Together, they are unsettling. The final effect is one of over-decorative fussiness that detracts from Telemann's simplicity of line.
This pernicious impulse to over-embellish afflicts the other better-known work on the CD, the Concerto Polonois in G, which receives particularly excessive ornamentation in the first movement. Here, though, the sonorous depths of the basso continuo, featuring Michael Ducker's cholashon, compensates to a large extent (not least because I'd never even heard of, let alone heard, this instrument before). And here, too, the sprightliness of the Largo doesn't seem too faddish for its own good.
Were it not for the misguided attempt to gild the lily, this could, and perhaps should, have been a definitive recording.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Excellent and unique performance-practice interpretations
25 Nov 2003
Format:Audio CD
I have listened to the entire CD, and it was thoroughly enjoyable throughout every single track. I bought this CD especially for the viola concerto and double viola concerto. Florian Deuter performs these pieces in a unique and totally convincing manner. The articulations (especially fast movements) are completely opposite of what one might normally choose to do in an interpretation of a faster movement. In this rendition, the 16th notes (2nd movement) are decidedly played off the string (short) and the 8th notes are on (long). I would never have imagined liking it that way, but I totally did! The orchestral accompaniment always sounds great in tone, and the balance between the soloist and orchestra is always very good. This is my new favorite recording of the Telemann Concerto.
Kenneth Martinson- professor of Viola at University of Florida, asst. editor of the American Viola Society Journal.
Kenneth Martinson- professor of Viola at University of Florida, asst. editor of the American Viola Society Journal.
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Goebel and MAK still the best out there
17 Oct 2000
Format:Audio CD
Although the number of orchestras which specialize in early music has grown tremendously over the last quarter century, Reinhard Goebel and MAK continue to remain a notch above all the rest, as this Telemann CD shows. They are the most technically proficient ensemble in the world; they have a lush, wonderfully rich and full string sound which no other group is able to match; they continue to unearth previously unknown musical gems; and they remain the most innovative, exciting group around, with an uncanny ability to stir the listener like nobody else. It doesn't matter that the personnel keeps changing; with Goebel and his musical ideas guiding the group, they will maintain their standard of excellence. This CD is full of some wonderful pieces, and MAK makes them all come alive with excitement. The viola concerto in G-Major has never sounded as good as it does here with Florian Deuter. Nobody has played Telemann better over the past 25 years than this group, and that remains true today.
10 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Outstanding Rendition!
28 Feb 2004
Format:Audio CD
Beautiful music, beautifully conducted and performed.
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