• Performers: C. Landshamer, soprano; Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, dir. B. Forck (violin)
• Label: Pentatone
• Producer: Michael Havenstein
• Engineer: Till Rotter
• Recording: June 2022; Nikodemuskirche, Berlin

Telemann’s output is prolific; historically he’s known as among the most prolific composers in terms of his surviving output. While his contemporary Bach seemed to have a special admiration for Italian models, and specifically concertos, Telemann’s recorded orchestral works today reveal how many ouverture-suites he wrote. This new release from AKAMUS includes several: the Suite in D, TWV 55:D21, E-flat TWV 50:21; and the Sinfonia Melodica in C TWV 50:2. The final work on this recording is the dramatic cantata, Ino, TWV 20:41.

The theme of this recording is around Telemann’s late period. The theme was explored earlier in a 1989 recording by Goebel and MAK on DG Archiv, including the cantata (Barbara Schlick) and the D-major overture-suite. My first and only real exposure to this older album was a Saturday afternoon feast via a recording from the Sibley Music Library. I remember fondly asking to have a number of their recordings of MAK brought out, some on vinyl, others on CD. For whatever reason the original recording never stuck with me, as I never purchased it until finally receiving it this past year as part of Archiv’s Goebel collection, multi-disc set.

I listened to the Goebel again today when considering this new album.

I’m most familiar with Schlick via her recordings with Ton Koopman in his early cantata cycle with Bach and I believe earlier recordings by Buxtehude. The soprano on this recording, Christina Landshamer is a dramatically (ha!) different singer, far more operatic in style. Unlike Schlick, Landshamer is not a baroque specialist.

Ino

Opera was of course born in the baroque period and was a genre that was cultivated in Italy first; it is always interesting to see how the world of opera intersects with composers who did not make opera their primary concern. This work brings into focus the lost opera by Monteverdi entitled Ariana whose lament has survived. In this work, Telemann brings us a protagonist who must throw herself from a rock into the sea (quite early, I might add) with the remainder of the work is spent with the protagonist realizing she’s joined the gods in heaven, carried away with her son by the wavy sea. The booklet notes provide great insight into the work including his historical perspective, about how Telemann hadn’t turned his back on new musical language and style. The essay suggests that after his death the work remained popular, having been performed by Bach’s son, C.P.E. Bach, godson to Telemann.

A work such as this—with an orchestral backing—would appeal to those who thirsted for opera but in contexts where a production could not be offered. I’m a bit torn about this performance. Landshamer delivers a clear and dramatic performance but with a vocal style that for my ears doesn’t necessarily fit a baroque setting.

Schlick’s voice has a thinness to it and perhaps isn’t the best suited toward a highly dramatic work. The MAK recording, for me, has great instrumental support in the cantata but the overture-suite is less successful. It lacks the gravitas and weight that Akamus brings in their newer recording. There are a few instances where things feel pushed a bit with tempo from MAK. Akamus is no slouch with tempo, but the overall effect seems less frenetic. The two recordings adopt very different sound concepts but both are enjoyable once you adjust to their differences.

The fullness of sound—from the hunting horns in the opening overture—to the choppy waves of the ocean within Ino—are a considerable sonic improvement with this new recording. It perhaps makes sense then for a new recording of these works, and as a bonus, this recording includes two additional works of entertainment music.

Ino is interesting in its significant use of recitative. The story seems to demand it. The final aria invites us to “Join in my song of praise,” giving thanks to the gods who saved Ino. It’s tuneful style and the orchestral writing are both well-done, clearly a style that belongs to the stage and not a religious work. It speaks as much to Telemann’s part in history as it does his gifts at adopting style in his writing.

Instrumental Works

The opening suite in D sparkles with festivity thanks to the use of hunting horns. The use of oboes, too, suggest a work that was meant for the out of doors. The energetic performance on this recording takes place in a church which gives these louder instruments plenty of room to reverberate. The speed adopted in movements such as the third, Réjouissance would not work outdoors. But the effect for us is exhilarating. The notes indicate the work was composed for Landgrave Ludwig VIII’s birthday in 1765.

I played games sampling individual movements, trying to hear Telemann’s “voice.” In the Loure I heard what I consider a Telemann whiff, the menuets were perhaps harder to discern, however the repeated figures weren’t something new. As novel as Telemann’s melodies get and creative as his dialogues become between instrumental groups, there lacks for me the depth of musical thought that is Bach’s hallmark.

The E-flat Divertimento opens like a concerto for flute, using an orchestra with horns. The sonic signature matches what I imagine is far more “indoor” piece, or even one suggesting a more intimate setting. However the remainder of the suite is given over to entertainments suggesting a world beyond a banquet hall. I agree with the liner notes assessment that this work is rooted in Telemann’s past far more than the cantata, stylistically speaking, but for me was the more enjoyable entertainment.

The final work on the recording opens again with what might otherwise be a sinfonia featuring oboes, concerto like in its back and forth with “concerto grosso” and “concertino” exchanges. This Italian solution dispenses with what could have been a slow-fast-slow overture. The remaining dances, however, do speak to a French style. I couldn’t help but think of Bach’s first Brandenburg Concerto when listening to this work, with its scoring for oboe, bassoon, and horns.

Telemann once again manages to bring together multiple national styles in his writing.

Akamus performs these all without fault, their collective sense of rhythm and where they place the strong beats among the dances all feels right to me. The one question I have around performance practice is how these dances might have been performed, in situ, as part of activities different, let’s say, from the modern concert hall. These dances are interesting, musically, but fall short of becoming profound in their construction or effect upon us. I wonder if they’d be repeated with improvisatory commentary from, say, the violinist or one or more of the oboe players? The simple melodies, even when given the Telemann kiss of doing something unexpected, seem demure.

I often think back to the performance of Brandenburg #1 by S. Rampe’s group some years ago where the oboe players, on repeats, provide quite florid ornamentation in Bach’s concerto, a weird piece, really, given its construction (perhaps in good company with these works by Telemann). It was at once refreshing and delightful, and I’ve noticed other ensembles after that release play a bit too with what can be done with ornamentation.

My point is that I think our interpretation of Telemann might also benefit from looking beyond the printed page and considering the context for these pieces and exploring what might be done when we consider if there is merit in key musicians can rise from their orchestra’s sound to provide bonus delights to those taken with these dances?

Perhaps not now, but in another 30 years, it may be time to explore these works once again with fresh perspective.

Final Thoughts

This recording conveniently provides us a glimpse into Telemann’s last years, which how he synthesized his own style, rooted in the high baroque, with the influence of galant melody and operatic influences overtaking the old order. Akamus here performs admirably, aided by the reverb in this recording of a church. I quite like the continued appearance of baroque horns in recordings like this that acknowledge the heritage of the horns as outdoor instruments. The result is often fun and exciting, delivering, I’m guessing, the intended flair and festive sparkle.

Ino is interesting most perhaps because of its advanced style, given Telemann’s willingness to look forward stylistically, where his friend Bach preferred to look backward. I think Landshamer is a gifted singer who used her full powers here to convey the drama of the text, but her vocal style is not my favorite, using a constant vibrato that I associate with later musical styles.

While I often didn’t quibble with Goebel’s fast tempi, the earlier recording by MAK for me today suffers from pushing the tempos so quickly that Schlick hardly has an opportunity to steal a breath. Schlick’s vocal sound for me is bettered in this newer recording. She too relies heavily on vibrato.

Under Forck’s direction, I think the cantata is ultimately more successful. While I am a fan of closer, drier recordings in many cases, I think the sound in this recording better fits the context of the music and helps to amplify this chamber ensemble to grander proportions.