Morten Fuglestad

An icon - Zelenka on the Parnassus, 14 April 2013

This is one of the first recordings of Zelenka's famous trio sonatas on historical instruments. This was a huge achievement back in 1989 when this recording was first issued on CD, and it still shines bright after all these years despite excellent recordings of the Zeffiro ensemble and the Marsysas ensemble.

The trio sonatas of Zelenka for two oboes, bassoon and basso continuo are certainly mountains to climb for the performers. Its rythms are clearly influenced by both Czech/Slavonic folk music and Venetian concertos (Did Zelenka ever meet Vivaldi personally in Venice, Prague or Dresden? He certainly knew the works of "Il prette rosso" quite well.). The adagios are… Read more

An achivement of the highest order!, 31 Mar 2013

Superb! This is the first recording of Zelenka's Capriccoios using baroque horns with no hand-stoping. Zelenka's capriccios are remarkable displays of both composition and almost nerve wreakingly high demands of technical difficulties for the horns. Some of the high tones on the horns are unprecedented in musical history up untill the high-romantic works of Wagner and Mahler.

Other rare features of his capriccios are the dance forms used, some which are not commonly encountered in the suites of his contemporaries, but which may be found in older works form Composers like Biber and Muffat, such as "Payson" (pesante), villanella and canarie.

The capriccios features some… Read more

Russian Telemania with sparks!, 31 Mar 2013

This is a triumph for Pratum musicum, a Russian based orchestra of young musicians. The playing is fantastic, not only is it of very high technical standards, but it also shows a remarkable passion for the works. Some works may be singled out, i.e. the overture for two violins and strings and basso continou (BC) in G minor (TWV 55: g8) stands out as a true gem, and shows Telemann as THE master of the orchestral suite.

The suite in F major for two horns, two oboes,bassoon, strings and BC is also of a very high standard. This suite (TWV 55: F12) are toghether with the beautiful G minor-suite for solo violin, strings and BC (TWV 55: g7) claimed to be world premieres. The horn… Read more