Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 09/10/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Handel is orange, Bach is azure to indigo, Zelenka is deep purple, Haydn is green and gold... or so my eyelids hear them, with plenty of flux in hue. Telemann is white light, all the colors of the spectrum. The four cantatas recorded on this CD have convinced me. To put it in another language, "Drei sind, die da zeugen in Himmel" has the beefy grandeur of Handel; "Ich hatte viel Bekümmernisse" has the lofty intricacy of Bach; "Wie liegt die Stadt so wüste" has the poignant depth of Zelenka; "Er kam, lobsingt ihm" has the symphonic nobility of Haydn. But I don't mean at all that Telemann is derivative or imitative, or lacks his own musical identity. Rather, his immense compositional facility encompassed all the possible moods and manners of the North European Baroque.
Telemann wrote several full annual cantata cycles, many more than Bach, using texts in German provided by local theologian-poets. Not nearly enough of these cantatas have survived, judging by the cantatas recorded here. "Drei sind" was written in Eisenach in 1711, "Bekümmernisse" in Frankfurt in 1717, "Stadt" in Hamburg in 1727, and "Lobsingt" also in Hamburg decades later in 1759. Thus the first three share their fundamental compositional vocabulary, while the last belongs more to the Romantic future than to the Baroque past. The four cantatas together constitute a remarkably fine selection, displaying all of Telemann's inventiveness and emotional expressiveness.
"Drie sind die" is a majestic sermon in music, extolling the mystery of the Trinity. It's scored for three soloists, choir, six trumpets, drums, oboes, strings and continuo, a potent array of musical forces for a minor city like Eisenach! The text is unabashedly didactic: 'There are Three who witness in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these Three are One.' A listener with literary taste will find the text pedestrian at best. A believer in monotheistic Islam or Judaism will find it blasphemous, and a non-believer will find it absurd. The music, nevertheless, is exuberant and inspiring, richly melodic, a showcase of vocal beauty. This is the most obviously 'Italianate' of the four cantatas in structure, with the Handelian balance of recitativos and da capo arias.
"Ich hatte viel Bekümmernisse" (I have many cares) is a Lenten cantata with a text similar to one used by JS Bach, a text of grief and comforting. The musical forces are smaller -- no trumpets, no drums -- and used with great restraint and subtlety, while the extended recitativos are dramatic, almost operatic, in affect. Telemann's mastery of heterophonic counterpoint was second to nobody's, not even Bach's. This cantata is astonishingly multi-layered both rhythmically and harmonically. It's one of those pieces that seems to have an additional voice or instrument each time you listen to it.
"Wie liegt die Stadt so Wüste" (How desolate the city lies) is a cantata of serene sorrow, such as a Catholic composer might have written for 'Tenebrae' vespers. In fact, it's loosely based on images from Jeremiah of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the tenor aria represents the morning of Jesus at the demise of Zion. The cantata is deeply touching; the words are of universal grief and the dark minor-key music is as deep as a midnight sky. Of all Telemann's sacred music, this piece affects me most poignantly.
And then: "Er kam, lobsingt ihm" (He came, Sing praise to Him) proclaims the glory of the Ascension, the victory of humankind over death, with the full panoply of the symphonic orchestra as it was evolving in the second half of the 18th C: four soloists, trumpets, drums, transverse flutes, oboes, full strings, and keyboards. Melodic phrases explode with instrumental colors as the soloists stand and deliver in full concert style, no recitativos, aria succeeding aria -- bass, alto, tenor, soprano, bass again, then a contrapuntal quartet and a resolving chorale. This is a "through-composed" masterpiece, of musical dimensions that transcend its mere 15-minute duration.
Hermann Max and his Kleine Konzert/ Rheinische Kantorie recorded these four cantatas several years apart, with different soloists for the fourth composition. I'm not aware of any previous releases of them. Frankly, I consider the combination of the four a stroke of genius on Max's part. The performance is spectacular in every way. The soloists are gorgeous of voice and technique, the instruments are nearly flawless throughout, and the conducting brings forth the individuality and energy of Telemann's music with total convection. This is definitely the Giordano Bruno "pick of the month" for September, 2009."
Track Listings (30) - Disc #1