Customer Reviews

Telemann: Recorder Suite in A minor; Viola Concerto; Tafelmusik

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As always, Telemann shows that imaginative, yet simple style that appeals to wide audiences somewhere between the complex and polyphonically orientated Bach, and the grandeur and pomp of Handel. At times he shows both, and this delightful recording conveys effectively that all-round mastery that led to the high esteem he was held in as the foremost composer of Germany in his day.

The performers on the CD have given us a stately interpretation with a down-to-earth quality, true to the composer and the music. There are no complaints on my part with this CD, which has ultimately provided a most enjoyable listening experience.

Dude, I can't agree with the negative reviews for this recording. The recorder suite doesn't sound choppy or pale. Plus, that claim about "relabling movements" was a complete lie. You can tell yourself just by looking at the cover and track list on the website here. I thought that the recorder and orchestra really blend together very well, authentically and harmonically. Consider the fact that I've been in love with Teleman's recorder music for a very long time. For a long time I've wanted to get a good recording in which the recorder was played with the great skill and technique that both Teleman and I the listener expected. This recording had everything that I wanted and I enjoyed every bit of it. I got this recording for the reocrder suite, but I also enjoyed every bit of the viola and horn concertos. The viola and horn concertos also blend the orchestra and solos with clearly defined skill, creating a beautiful harmonic and melodic sound. It sounds like heaven to me. Are there better recordings than this one? Maybe there are, but that doesn't mean that this recording isn't good at all. Take it from a twenty one year old classical music fan who knows how to enjoy music rather than critique every little thing like those old people do. To me this is a very very good recording of some great baroque music that sounds just as great and beautiful as baroque music is and always was.

What is wrong with this recording? I'm not sure. The viola soloist is lovely, the violin soloists are also fine. So are the horns and the recorders. Why don't I love this recording? I think it has to do with a pedestrian approach.

The viola concerto is the best thing on this disc. It is engaging Telemann, and is well-performed for the most part. The orchestra accompaniment is pretty vanilla, however. A lack of clarity in the orchestra also hinders some of the joy of the Concerto for 3 violins.

I guess if I had to sum up my apathy about this disc, I would say that the blame falls on the shoulders of Edlinger and the orchestra. We have come a long way in Baroque playing, but this seems hopelessly average and old-fashioned (not that older styles of Baroque performances don't have their rewards). Such wonderful music deserves better!

I think the Penguin Guide overrates this a bit, having now upgraded it to their new top rating of 4 stars, ****, and retaining the Rosette. I agree it's a very nice CD but would give it *** Penguin Guide stars and no Rosette. The performances are very good, IMHO, but only the last is really inspired. I have to agree with the PG that the quality of the 1988 recording is very good. I think it is one of the best of the early Naxos recording. Though I detect some minor colorations in the strings, this is much less objectionable than with a larger ensemble. But it makes a lovely sound. Here at Amazon, where the usual standards are less stringent, I give it 5 stars.

The Viola Concerto in G is done very nicely. I notice a slight tizzy coloration in Ladislav Kyselak's solo viola and the strings in the orchestra are slightly brighter than they should be, which is true throughout the CD. Still, the recording is well up to normal standards. The performance is relaxed, a little stately as someone suggested, but otherwise I can't fault it.

The Recorder Suite in A Minor comes off quite well, too. Jiri Stivin's playing is very precise and skillful, but lacking in the last bit of panache. But all in all, a very pleasant, enjoyable performance. The Concerto in F for 3 Violins from Tafelmusik is also quite well done.

The Concerto for Two Horns, also from Tafelmusik, is superb. The two brothers, Zdenek and Bedrich Tylsar, play with great style, and seem to inspire everyone else, too. This performance is full of fun. It really is pretty special, and I would give it a Rosette.

As I said, the recording is quite good. I can cure the slight tizziness in the highs using by turning the Tilt control on my Quad preamplifier down 1 dB. I suspect a little cut with a normal treble control would work, too. But this is nitpicking, as the sound quality is really quite good as is.

Although this is a rather pleasant disc to listen to, it does have some shortcomings, especially if you really want to hear what Telemann wrote. The Viola Concerto in G Major is quite nicely done, it is true, but a comparison with the 1968 recording by Paul Doctor and Concerto Amsterdam directed by Frans Brüggen makes it plain that the viola can be played more movingly and that the use of historical instruments makes Telemann sound so much better, although this could also be a result of Warner's better recorded sound (despite the age of the recording). The A minor Suite for Recorder is, on the Naxos disc, almost a solo performance, with the Capella Istropolitana rather pale and standing well behind the soloist Jiri Stivin. The repeat of the overture as a 'Lento' at the end of the concerto is a nice idea but does not seem in any way to be authentic. Here, too, I preferred Frans Brüggen's 1962 recording, now re-released on Warner's budget label Apex, especially as Brüggen's recorder sounds much more brilliant. Brüggen's tempi are quite slow, but the recording (with the Südwestdeutsche Kammerorchester directed by Friedrich Tilegant) has a charm of its own that was not even matched by Brüggen's later recording with Nikolaus Harnoncourt's Concentus Musicus.

The two other pieces on the Naxos disc are taken from Telemann's Banquet Music (Tafelmusik) and have been recorded so often and so well on period instruments that I would recommend turning to these versions, e. g. by the Camerata of the 18th Century (Dabringhaus und Grimm) or by Musica Antiqua Cologne (Deutsche Grammophon).

Although I like all of Telemann's music, I specifically bought this (used) Naxos DVD for the Viola Concerto. I wasn't disappointed, it's a beatiful piece. The other Telemann music on the disc makes it all the more rewarding. The used DVD was in "like new" condition and reasonably priced.

Ah, well, these Naxos CD's are always hit or miss affairs and this one is an almost certain 'miss'. The Viola Concerto, I must say, is a very good imterpretation, very well executed with Mr Kyselak's viola producing a warm, gentle sound. However, on the Recorder Suite, this recording falls apart. Mr Stivin's playing is rushed and sloppy and to top it off, they replay part of the overture as an 'eighth movement' (the labelling of the movements on the cover is also incorrect). I don't know what this is supposed to prove, although I have a suspicion that the producer was trying to be clever. The Concerto for 3 violins is sloppy as well, with the soloists often not playing together (maybe they recorded in seperate takes!) I had never heard the Concerto for 2 horns. It sounds very nice, up to the standard of the Viola Concerto but as Naxos seem to have a habit of either adding or removing parts of movements with complete disregard for the score (I have noticed this on many other Naxos recordings as well), I will leave it at that.