Telemann wrote more than any other composer of
the baroque period for my instrument, the recorder – and with idiomatic success
which is what has encouraged me to get to know the composer and his music in
greater depth-.
Telemann was originally supposed to study law,
but insisted that music would be his focus. Moreover, he proved to be not only
a great composer, but also an organizer of concerts and a publisher of musical
scores. He was a highly versatile entrepreneur as well as a remarkable and
curiously “modern” musician: a man who took hard work in his stride, becoming
one of the most prolific composers of all times.
Stylistically Telemann was an eclectic,
schooled in a huge range of idioms, embracing both the utmost rigor as well as
a more light-hearted vein (see for instance the collection of Trietti metodichi
e scherzi). This latter style was considered highly advanced at the time, and
was to achieve the finest outcome with Mozart, who is the most loved and
performed composer of our own times. Telemann certainly owed a lot to the
Italian school exemplified by Arcangelo Corelli, but at the same time he was
also a great admirer of the French style. He often included folk music, mixing
everything together with consummate skill, and appealing to audiences in a
manner unparalleled by other musicians of the period.
The four cantatas in this recording are fully
representative of those belonging to the Harmonischer Gottesdienst (music for religious
services), a collection of cantatas for solo voice and flute, oboe or violin,
and harpsichord. The originality of many of the copious musical ideas makes the
collection an outstanding repertoire for a small ensemble comprising voice, a
high-pitched instrument and the continuo. The idiomatic writing for the voice,
its relation to the instrumental parts and the many indications concerning
interpretation place the Harmonischer Gottesdienst among the great achievements
of the period. They also greatly facilitate the task of the performer.
One of Telemann’s characteristic skills was his
ability to imbue the arias of these cantatas with the sort of brilliance that
we normally associate with solo concertos. A case in point is deine Toten warden
leben, where the radiance of the initial aria counterbalances the sweetness of
the concludins one. The first aria of Hemmet den Eifer again reveals Telemann’s
compositional skills, and at the same time testifies to his familiarity with
the recorder. In fact the recorder part is full of demanding passage work of
the sort one might expect in a solo concerto. The vocal score, on the other
hand, is smooth and linear, which makes for a particularly effective contrast.
The opening aria of Du bist verflucht, o Schreckensstimme features some unusual
chromaticism that conjures up a sense of expressive anger, further emphasized by
the tense instrumental interplay and the active participation of the basso
continuo.
The two rarely heard instrumental pieces here are
not only particularly enjoyable, but also significant within the wider context
of Telemann’s oeuvre. The various movements of the E minor Partita in the
Kleine Kammermusik collection create a fluctuating range of atmospheres, and
there is a wide-ranging expressive universe in the G minor Trio Sonata. To
judge from the quantity and quality of the music Telemann wrote for the
recorder, the composer must have been a more than competent player himself; he
chooses convenient keys and pitches, and also exploits the entire range of the
instrument. Features of this sort are not as common in the music of Vivaldi and
Haendel, although both also wrote important works for the recorder. The highly
varied virtuoso nature of Telemann’s compositions for the instrument is
undeniably demanding for the performer. Because the overall impact of the works
is so extraordinary, however, to play them is also uniquely rewarding. Stefano Bagliano
Enjoy :)
