Track Listing

1. Sinfonia spirituosa
2. Largo
3. Vivace
4. Ouverture
5. La Trompette
6. Sarabande
7. Rondeau
8. Bourée
9. Courante
10. Gigue. Presto
11. Grave
12. Allegro
13. Largo e staccato
14. Allegro
15. Affettuoso
16. Allegro
17. Adagio
18. Allegro
19. Largo e staccato
20. Allegro
21. Adagio
22. Vivace
23. Allegro
24. Adagio
25. Menuet
26. Adagio
27. Allegro
28. Grave
29. Allegro
30. Die alte Welt. Altdeutsch - Ernsthaft - Munter
31. Die mittlere Welt. Capellmäßig
32. Die Jüngere Welt. Lustig

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89326 in Music
• Released on: 2002-04-09
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Incredible recording!!!
After hearing the last disc with Telemann String Concertos I was thrilled when I discovered that there would be a second cd with music by Telemann. The group has some new members. The most obvious change is in the continuo with a new cellist and harpsichordist to replace the outstanding Markus Möllenbeck and Christian Rieger. The former star of the group, 1st violinist Florian Deuter is also replaced here by Stephan Schardt AND surprisingly the Maestro himself, Reinhard Goebel who after an arm injury actually has re-learned to play the violin by holding it on the right shoulder instead of the left!
I was actually a bit worried after hearing the latest cd "Bachiana" with the new ensemble. When being a fan of MAK you get used to absolute perfection in every sense of the word. Precision and intonation is always impeccable. I would never have reacted or been disturbed if I'd heard the small imperfections in the cd from basically any other ensemble but with MAK you notice! Sometimes the harpsichord is a bit after the beats and Schardt's playing isn't always convincing.
Anyway, the new disc completely wipes all doubts away. This recording is a blast!! The sound have never been so big, so symphonic and powerful. The characters of each piece are also very convincing. The continuo playing is absolute top class. So is the solo playing from the violins. There are some amazing pieces to discover here like the concertos for four violins and the suite in D with gamba played by Jaap ter Linden. Some people have a problem to accept and enjoy the, in their ears, extreme approach that MAK has developed during the last ten years. I think the reason is that this way of playing is still unique. Like when "we" started to play baroque instruments and a lot of people were sceptical about it. Let's move on...
To play with full sound and to play with a real legato has been taboo in the early music búsiness. It's time for some change! I hope that a lot of people discover this recording and find out how wonderful the music of once neglected composer Telemann can be when played with great passion and sense of style.

Engaging performances
Telemann's music has been enjoying an amazing resurgence, reminiscent of the renaissance Vivaldi underwent some decades ago. This disc is sure to secure the reputation of a composer much maligned in many musicological circles. The attractive collection of works includes at least three real gems, the Overture TWV55:D6 for viola da gamba and orchestra, the Concerto for four violins and orchestra TWV54:A1 and the Concerto 'Die Relinge' TWV 51:A4 (a recent discovery but recorded elsewhere on at least one other occasion). There are also three concertos for four solo violins, played with rhythmic elan and radiant string sound. There is only one weak work, the Symphony TWVAnh50:1.
Musica Antiqua Köln does a superb job, injecting this music with consistent life, energy and elegance and this disc is warmly recommended.

Topflight Telemann, but . . .
For aficionados of period music performance I can understand the high marks given these unusual and outstanding Telemann works by previous reviewers. Goebel's group strives for technical perfection - and gets pretty close to it.

As you can tell by my user name, Telemann is one of my favorite composers. However I feel that the excitement and inspiration in his works - highly appreciated in his time - is, paradoxically, blocked from contemporary music lovers by groups that insist on performing for audiences who have been dead for 250 years. Reinhard Goebel and his Camerata Koln have given me intense frustration by continually rediscovering and performing music that I love - but performing it in a way that I regard as "antiqued", arbitrarily inhibited and stylized. Although Goebel may have mellowed a bit since his earlier, rigidly mannered performances, Telemann's mastery of all the orchestral instrument sonorities available in his time (and some that were not yet in the orchestra, like the chalumeau or early clarinet), his unexpected twists, and above all, his love of melody, has trouble coming alive to modern audiences in period performance recordings.

It is doubly ironic that whereas Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel's music is available to contemporary general audiences in dynamic, "living tradition" performance styles - and consequently sells substantial numbers of recordings, Telemann, who was specially committed to audiences and performers (he was the first in Germany to open up the hitherto closed university Collegium Musicums to the public), is largely heard by elite listeners - professionals, esthetes, and cognoscenti of early music.

There is another new recording of Telemann: oboe concerti, also available from Amazon.com. For those to whom this debate is new, listen to the opening E-flat major concerto and you'll hear what I am talking about.