Customer Reviews

Telemann: Twelve Fantasies for Solo Violin

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Thanks to Mr.Hadelich, the amazing young violinist, I am re-discovering how beautiful these 12 pieces really are. He plays with the warmest tone and each piece is shining as he lets them sing so lyrically. I like it very much that Mr. Hadelich puts neither excessive vibrato nor ornamentation so that the simple beauty of the melodic lines is revealed. His great attention to phrasing is worth mentioning; the music is so alive as if it is breathing happily. It is wonderful that, as masterfully these repertoires are played, Mr. Hadelich, at the same time, conveys a sense of an almost innocent joy of playing the violin.

The idiotic notes to this recording declare that Telemann wrote these "Twelve Fantasies for Violin without Bass" in 1735 for the student/amateur market -- "compositions that make relatively modest demands on a player." Uf! I wonder if the writer (Keith Anderson) ever heard this performance or spoke with the violinist, Augustin Hadelich. These twelve fantasies are marvels of virtuosic invention, exploring all the resources of timbre, range, and dynamics of the violin, in twelve different keys and with spectacular demands on the violinists double-stop technique, not merely hinting at polyphony but actually requiring the violin to play counterpoint with itself. If you think you are hearing two fiddles duetting, you've been fooled again! But the double-stopping (placing the fingers on two strings and bowing both strings at once) isn't the only challenge this music presents; there are sizzlingly fast passages, delicate figured rhythms, orotundly grave basso themes and adventures into the 'perpetual snows' of resin in the highest position of the violinist's left hand on the neck of his instrument. Modest demands, my foot! Mr. Anderson and others: it's time to stop condescending to Georg Philipp Telemann as part of modern fealty to JS Bach! Telemann was second to no one in musical fecundity, imagination, or expressiveness.

And yet, young Augustin Hadelich, the gold medalist at the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, makes these show pieces sound easy. As they say about all-stars in sports, he's "the whole package" - lightning bow and finger coordination, flawless intonation, superb command of rhythms and phrasings, glorious vibrato-free tone, complete understanding of the historical performance practices of Telemann's era. I have no quibble with his use of a modern violin with modern strings, though I'd be curious to know what sort of bow he uses. Anyone who plays this beautifully can perform on a shoebox with a built-in synthesizer for all I care.

And if "amateurs" could have played this stuff in 1735, then "we" citizens of the 21st Century have degenerated and devolved beyond redemption.