Customer Reviews

Telemann: Bläserkonzerte (Wind Concertos)

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This is one of my absolute favorite CDs, and I'm happy to see that it's still available after some fifteen-plus years. In my book, the much-maligned G.Ph. Telemann is restored to the top of the class with this wonderful stuff from Reinhard Goebel and his MAK. Telemann, proflific as he was, did produce some music that will put you to sleep. But none of that exists on this zippy disc. This is rocket-powered Baroque music, played with style, assurance and obvious affection. The instrumental combinations are amazing and a pure delight; every concerto on this disc is a winner. Really.

Wind-instrument players are small-muscle athletes. Their virtuosity is based on innate physical endowments. Like it or not, it's so. The velocity of recorderist Michael Schneider's tongue-and-finger biathlon, on Telemann's Concerto in E minor, outpaces an ordinary person's fluency as much as Lance Amstrong's legs outpeddle us. Telemann's 100 or so concerti - many for woodwinds or brass - offer Olympic musical hurdles for wind players, and that's where the fun comes from.

But Telemann also seems infallibly to grasp the expressive potentials of the instruments he writes for, and to exploit them idiomatically. Did he perhaps play every instrument in the orchestra? It sounds as if he might have. The Concerto in D minor for Two Chalumeaux, for instance. The chalumeau was a brief experiment that quickly evolved into the clarinet and basset horn of Mozart's time. It lacks much forte potential, and its range is less than two octaves, but it has a wonderful, broad, cello-like tone. That's what Telemann chose to exploit, that woody tone, by writing most of this concerto as an exposed duet for the chalumeax, with the orchestra entering only at exclamation points. The Baroque trumpet, on the other hand, was a superbly evolved instrument with centuries of technique behind it - a radically different instrument from the valved modern trumpet, and in many ways more expressive and capable of greater virtuosity. If you don't believe me, listen to what Telemann has written for the instrument in his Concerto in D major, and what trumpeter Friedemann Immer is able to do with only his "chops"!

The word "chops" is universal wind-players' slang for embouchure and by extension for physical technique. The six concerti on this CD are all examples of magnificent chops. Violinist and director Reinhard Goebel plays second fiddle to Friedemann Immer on the final Concerto for Trmpet and Violin, but in the wider world of violin virtuosity, Goebel is second to no one, living or dead. His ensemble, Musica Antiqua Koeln, never fails to match Goebel's high standards. This CD is the height of elegant Baroque "easy listening", full of novelty and variety.

You want to hear performance at a level beyond anything you can imagine? Take a listen to this. Anybody who thinks old music is dull, or Telemann is dull, or period performance is dull...hasn't heard this. It ROCKS! Check it out.

Great music too, btw.

One of the best barroque recordings I've ever heard. It's musical, it's alive! I enjoyed the balance and sound quality of the instruments, and the incisively beautiful interpretation

It is easy to understand why Telemann was more popular than Bach when they were both living after listening to this superb recording which I believe to be the best disc of Baroque music I have ever heard.....I appreciate Bach, but this music just " pops " unlike the majority of Bach's maths derived obtuse musical tomes. I cannot recommend a disc more highly.

This set of Telemann's music is delighful. I find myself reaching for them over any of my classical pieces -- they are relaxing, refreshing, and can really take the edge off a bad day vey quickly. The recording quality is excellent as well. NO disappointment here. Great value for the money.

Telemann remains under-exposed and still trying to shake off the false bad rap he got in the last century. This music should dispel any notion that he was "a mere scribbler", delightful music, well-recorded and passionately performed by the uniformly excellent MAK. One of my desert island discs.

If there is such a thing as acid baroque, this is it. Much less known than other composers of the era, but with verve that others only flirted with. A good part of this excellence is Telemann himself, but MAK's preeminence in the genre and Archiv's excellence in production add unmistakable character and life. This will become one of your favorite baroque albums.

this is a wonderful CD no baroque fan should be missing in their collection!

finest music on a fantastic level...

so GET IT!