Customer Reviews

Telemann: Double Concertos with recorder

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Telemann's double concerto for bassoon and recorder is one of my all-time favorite baroque pieces. Unfortunately, it is tough to find an recording where the ensemble is willing to take a crack at a lilting tempo. This recording is probably one of the only recordings you will find with an up-speed tempo that maintains the precise technical accuracy which Telemann's virtuosic writing demands. I highly recommend this recording!

The recorder is an instrument that gets allot of flack and is seen by many as instrument that is played by kids and one that is abandoned later in life for other instruments. I played the recorder as a kid and I wish I had stayed with it instead of discarding it. Telemann shows with this double concertos for the recorder that it is not some lame kiddie instrument but musical instrument that is just as beautifull to listen to as any other classical instrument.

Michael McCraw is excellent in this recording of music on period instruments. Music sounded different in the Baroque era of music when played on instruments of the day. Because of technological advances in the equiptment used to construct instruments, performers demands for changes to make the instruments easier to play, and changing views on the roles of specific instruments in ensembles most instruments have become more refined, and with that, sound different. The Baroque bassoon was a smaller instrument than the modern Heckel bassoon, and it had many less keys, making variety of pitches and intonation challenging. The Baroque bassoon also sounds softer. Until the middle of the Baroque era, the bassoon was used almost exclusively to double the basso part (cellos, harpsichord), but with composers like Telemann, Vivaldi, and Boismortier, the bassoon came into its own as a solo instrument. Perviously, when it was used to double the basso part, it added an articulated texture, and this sound carries over into the early solo bassoon literature. McCraw thoughtfully uses this sound in this recording, and his technical facility is second to none. A fine recording!