Search - Georg Philipp Telemann :: Geog Philipp Telemann: Harmonischer Gottesdienst; Missa Brevis

Pleasant chamber music from a baroque master

08/28/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Finding some new Telemann for [item price] is sortof akin to finding a nice bottle of red wine for under $10. There's so much out there, and you know you have so much already, but its hard to beat the price and you can always find an excuse to buy it, so why not?I gave the disc four stars because there ARE so many Telemann chamber discs out there, all pretty darn good, all of which merit passing attention, but none of which are the "MUST HAVE' disc of the century. This is true of this disc too. Having said that, if you're ambivalent about Telemann, a tenspot is always worth it! His continually inventive combination of French, Italian German and Polish (yes, Polish) styles never cease to place him at the creative end of the baroque continuum, and all are in evidence here. The man's inherent understanding of the right colors for woodwinds in particular could lead one to assume he invented most of the instruments (and he did play most of them well.) Telemann will rarely have the searching profundity of a Bach, but that's not why you listen to him. You wait for that really clever turn of musical phrase that starts to lift the corners of your mouth into a smile, and you know if they tried to relegate this to the status of mere elevator music the elevators would probably be snickering too much to get to the right floors. The Chandos baroque players are a fine group, and pull this off with charateristic dispatch. The recording dates from 1986. The sound is nonetheless very good."