Telemann: Two concertos

Day 228

Telemann: Two Concertos

Viola Concerto in G TWV 51:G9

Antoine Tamestit

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

Bernhard Force

Concerto for Recorder and Bassoon TWW 52:FIII

Frans Brüggen

Otto Fleischmann

Concentus Music Wien

Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Telemann, like Vivaldi, has the reputation of being a composer who churned out music by the yard - indeed it is often thought that he used assistants to fill in the middle parts in the texture. I don’t recall ever having consciously listen to any of his music - though I must have heard some of it before.

I enjoyed these two concertos. The style is more Handelian than I expected: it is elegant and sophisticated with plenty of interesting twists and turns. The choice of instruments and combinations certainly helps - in particular the dark tone of the viola adds to the attraction of the first of the concertos here. Again, though I can’t imagine wanting to spend a huge amount of time with Telemann.