Search - Georg Philipp Telemann, Richard Edlinger, Capella Istropolitana :: Telemann: Recorder Suite in A minor; Viola Concerto; Tafelmusik

Pleasant enough but with shortcomings

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 11/09/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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)."