Search - Georg Philipp Telemann, Musica Antiqua Köln, Reinhard Goebel :: Telemann: Bläserkonzerte (Wind Concertos)

Windy Olympics in Eisenach, 1712

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 05/24/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wind-instrument players are small-muscle athletes. Their virtuosity is based on innate physical endowments. Like it or not, it's so. The velocity of recorderist Michael Schneider's tongue-and-finger biathlon, on Telemann's Concerto in E minor, outpaces an ordinary person's fluency as much as Lance Amstrong's legs outpeddle us. Telemann's 100 or so concerti - many for woodwinds or brass - offer Olympic musical hurdles for wind players, and that's where the fun comes from.



But Telemann also seems infallibly to grasp the expressive potentials of the instruments he writes for, and to exploit them idiomatically. Did he perhaps play every instrument in the orchestra? It sounds as if he might have. The Concerto in D minor for Two Chalumeaux, for instance. The chalumeau was a brief experiment that quickly evolved into the clarinet and basset horn of Mozart's time. It lacks much forte potential, and its range is less than two octaves, but it has a wonderful, broad, cello-like tone. That's what Telemann chose to exploit, that woody tone, by writing most of this concerto as an exposed duet for the chalumeax, with the orchestra entering only at exclamation points. The Baroque trumpet, on the other hand, was a superbly evolved instrument with centuries of technique behind it - a radically different instrument from the valved modern trumpet, and in many ways more expressive and capable of greater virtuosity. If you don't believe me, listen to what Telemann has written for the instrument in his Concerto in D major, and what trumpeter Friedemann Immer is able to do with only his "chops"!



The word "chops" is universal wind-players' slang for embouchure and by extension for physical technique. The six concerti on this CD are all examples of magnificent chops. Violinist and director Reinhard Goebel plays second fiddle to Friedemann Immer on the final Concerto for Trmpet and Violin, but in the wider world of violin virtuosity, Goebel is second to no one, living or dead. His ensemble, Musica Antiqua Koeln, never fails to match Goebel's high standards. This CD is the height of elegant Baroque "easy listening", full of novelty and variety."

Mind-blower

DCH | 07/17/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You want to hear performance at a level beyond anything you can imagine? Take a listen to this. Anybody who thinks old music is dull, or Telemann is dull, or period performance is dull...hasn't heard this. It ROCKS! Check it out.Great music too, btw."

Superb playing

DCH | CA, USA | 05/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the best barroque recordings I've ever heard. I's musical, it's alive! I enjoyed the balance and sound quality of the instruments, and the incisively beautiful interpretation"