Customer Reviews

Georg Philipp Telemann: Twelve Fantasias For Solo Violin

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Errors in tuning, awkwardness in the double-stops, and a scratchy-scrape timbre much of the time that sounds unnecessarily 'modern' and wire-strung! There's a much more convincing performance on modern violin by Augustin Hadelich, recorded in 2007 and released on bargain-price Naxos.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 - 1767): Twelve Fantasias for Solo Violin without Bass [1735]. Performed by Angèle Dubeau on the "Des Rosiers" Stradivarius. Recorded in January and February 1993 at the "Chapelle historique du Bon Pasteur" in Montreal, Canada. Released in 1995 as Analekta Fleur de Lys FL 2 3048. Total playing time: 68'38".

I cannot compare this recording of rare baroque repertoire with any other, but I do want to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. Angèle Dubeau, one of Canada's most outstanding violinists, gives a stunning performance of Telemann's solo fantasias, enabling the listener to enjoy both the virtuosity and delicacy of her playing, the superb sound of her Stradivarius and Telemann's lively compositions which seem to span both the baroque and the early classical age and to include snippets of music from several European traditions. My only criticism would be of the somewhat thin booklet which gives no details about the instrument used other than its name: I would have liked to know how it was tuned (the pitch) and what kind of strings were used. Ms. Dubeau is not generally classed as being a "HIPP" musician and I suspect that her Stradivarius is not, strictly speaking, a "period instrument", but with a performance like this, who cares?