Gulliver’s Travels - String Music by Telemann
We’ve thankfully had several ensembles over the years champion the music of Georg Philipp Telemann, a contemporary of Bach and Handel. Telemann was far more prolific than either Handel or Bach; and while his popularity during his lifetime may have had his contemporaries thinking he was among the very best composers, time has shown that his music doesn’t have quite the same resonance with us today as, well, Bach and Handel.
One of the champions of Telemann was Reinhard Goebel, who with his ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln made many reference recordings of Telemann’s chamber music and concertos. Since that time, Michael Schneider, an MAK alum, has made many more recordings, especially of Telemann’s concertos with his ensembles. In this recording, the focus is on 67 minutes of string music by the Capricornus Consort in Basel. It’s a similar approach to MAK’s later recordings featuring more string music in various formats.
I did not have access to liner notes for this release but listened at 96kHz over Qobuz both on my main full-range speaker setup and with headphones. For headphone listening, the acoustics for this album are too “wet.” But it’s my only real criticism of the release.
The album is comprehensive in it’s selection of pieces from multiple stages of Telemann’s career, exploring different forms. While the composer seemed to favor four-movement structures for his works outside of suites, we do get a few variations, such as the opening work, a chamber concerto for two violins, viola, and continuo in A major (TWV 40:200). The short work isn’t profound, starting slow, and followed by two faster movements. My immediate reaction upon hearing the opening two movements was “oh, wow, this is some MAK-level stuff.”
MAK’s recordings often excelled with works that featured the violin or violins. Goebel had an ability to attract leading talent on the violin. No doubt, many of them would go off to launch their own careers as ensemble directors and soloists. But I’d extend this quality qualification to all of the Capricornus Consort. They play with confidence and assurance. They are technically tight, and while sensitive, too, those on the top of the forces remind me a lot of that Goebel-sound.
The second work on the album, a Sonata à 5, TWV 44:5, is a better work than the opening. This would have come from Telemann’s late period and infuses a bit of storm and stress in the second movement, Allegro. Fun music! The presence of counterpoint in many movements helps position the work as one by a learned soul.
CCB give the solos to the violins in the Trio for 2 flutes in D minor (TWV 42:d1). The use of guitar in the basso continuo helps keep the piece light, given the faster tempos adopted by the group in the outer movements. Athletic in conception, they keep Telemann’s music exciting in their interpretation.
The work for which the album takes its name was one I first encountered in Andrew Manze’s album featuring violin fantasias. It’s written for two violins and provides us scenes from Swift’s masterpiece. For music nerds, you should seek out a score of the piece. I didn’t realize until recently when a friend pointed out Telemann’s antics at writing really long note values and very short ones to align with the theme of the characters in Swift’s story.
(Those who are familiar with Andrew Manze, who no longer records baroque music himself, maybe recognize the painting on this album also appearing on Manze’s recording of Corelli’s op. 5 sonatas with Richard Egarr.)
I think CCB outdo the effort by Manze and Caroline Balding. They are quicker and have a lighter touch with the bows.
I first learned about Telemann’s sonatas in the style of Arcangelo Corelli through the recording by Collegium Musicum 90 and Simon Standage. CCB record the fifth here, in G minor (my favorite key!), TWV 42:g4. Listen to how they connect the two violin lines in the opening movement. The harmony is doing all the work and feeling the music together, phrasing it simply buy dynamically, makes the music really sing to us.
The second movement, marked Vivace takes on the Corellian flavor best. Kind of, maybe. It’s enough to nod to the Italian master. There’s also adequate Italian flavor in the final Vivace.
Conclusions
This album appearing was a bit of a surprise. This music of Telemann’s has been recorded before, and some of it quite a bit. While a lot of ensembles in the 80s, 90s, and the first decade of the 2000s provide a great foundation of Telemann’s chamber music for strings—with many good recordings among them—here come CCB with their take on things.
Consistency is one of the hallmarks of this recording. The music is consistently well-played throughout. They don’t adopt any playing techniques that we might consider “fringe,” but instead push hard with good, exciting tempos in the fast movements and play with good shading and cohesiveness in the slower movements, showcasing the richness in some of Telemann’s harmonic progressions. As string players they do well to highlight rhythmic motifs and play well together.
The album is a little treble-heavy, highlighting the violins, and as mentioned, I’d have preferred a little drier sound, but my experience was improved when going to loudspeakers (where some of that reverb disappears in a room that’s not perfectly ideal for music listening).
All around, if you are familiar already with some of Telemann’s music by the likes of those ensembles I’ve mentioned, know that this recital offers great enjoyment, perhaps outclassing previous efforts.
