A perfect match

"Georg Philipp Telemann may well be the most popular composer among recorder players. He has probably written more for their instrument than any other composer of the baroque era. That can be explained by the fact that he always had the interests of amateurs in mind, and among them the recorder was one of the most popular instruments (in time, challenged by the transverse flute). He wanted to offer them music that was technically not too difficult, but at the same time challenging enough to keep them busy. Moreover, he was always in touch with the fashions of his time.

This has resulted in collections of music in which the recorder plays an important role, such as the bi-weekly magazine Der getreue Music-Meister, trios in Essercizii Musici, and Harmonischer Gottesdienst, a collection of cantatas for voice and solo-instrument. Add to that the many pieces in which the choice of instrument was left to the performer, and there is plenty of music to choose from.

The present disc shows the recorder in different genres. The overture or orchestral suite was not intended for amateurs but rather for larger ensembles, such as court orchestras, or for public concerts, such as given by the Collegia Musica or comparable ensembles which existed in several towns in Germany. Telemann himself founded and directed such an ensemble during his early years in Leipzig. These ensembles consisted largely of amateurs as well.

The overture had its origin in France, and as Telemann had a special liking of the French style, he was an enthusiastic exponent of this particular genre. How many overtures he has written is impossible to say, as some of them are lost. Most have been preserved thanks to the fact that his friend Christoph Graupner, Kapellmeister at Darmstadt, and his deputy Johann Samuel Endler copied them. As Telemann was an exponent of the ‘mixed taste’ – the combination of elements of the French and the Italian style with German tradition – some of these overtures include non-French elements. The Overture in A minor, which opens the programme recorded by Clara Guldberg Ravn, is one of his best-known works, and includes Italian elements in that it has a solo part for the recorder. The third movement specifically refers to the Italian style, as it is called Air à l’Italien – and as Telemann was also an admirer of traditional music, especially from Poland, the work closes with a polonaise.

At the other end of the programme, we find a far lesser-known work, the Overture in E flat, which has a solo part for an instrument called flûte pastorelle. It is assumed that this refers to a kind of recorder. Its structure shows that Telemann was not afraid to deviate from what music lovers of his time may have expected. Many overtures include a menuet – mostly a pair of two menuets – and these often appear towards the end. Here, it is in second place, immediately after the opening ouverture. The fourth movement, called Bourée en echo altern(ativement) is most remarkable. It is a dialogue in the form of an echo between recorder and violin. Towards the end, when one thinks that the dialogue has been finished, we get a short encore. Clara Guldberg Ravn, in her liner-notes, states that the works on this album “offer Telemann’s usual combination of wit, virtuosity and drama”. This dialogue is an example of the first mentioned quality.

Telemann had something of a difficult relationship with the genre of the solo concerto. It was a product of the Italian style, which had some features he didn’t particularly like. He wrote that in concertos of some of his contemporaries he encountered “many difficulties and awkward leaps but little harmony and even poorer melody. The first qualities I hated because they were uncomfortable for my hand and bow, and owing to the lack of the latter qualities, to which my ears were accustomed through French music, I could neither love them nor desire to imitate them”. This did not withhold him from composing a considerable number of concertos for one to four instruments. Despite his criticism of virtuosity, some of the solo parts are quite virtuosic. That goes, for instance, for the solo part in the Concerto in C. This may be due to the fact that he himself had played the recorder from his childhood and had studied it with the greatest precision, as he himself wrote. This concerto is one of the longest in Telemann’s oeuvre and is assumed to date from between 1725 and 1730. This explains the traces of the galant idiom that was developing at the time. It is another piece that has come down to us in a copy from Darmstadt. The form is unconventional in that it opens with an allegretto instead of a slow movement. The closing tempo di minuet is the most demanding of the four movements.

The Concerto in F is a little more modest in proportions and technical requirements. It also exists in a version in D for transverse flute, but it is assumed that it was originally intended for the recorder. The second movement includes scales in the recorder part, and the third movement is notable for the absence of strings. The recorder is accompanied by basso continuo alone, and the cello plays a particularly important role with a falling bass line. The concerto closes with a pair of menuets.

The Overture in A minor is by far the best-known item on this disc and available in many recordings, so hardly an incentive to purchase this disc. However, the other three works are far less common, and that should be reason enough to investigate it. That said, the overture has something to offer which one may not find in rival recordings. It was expected from performers to add embellishments of their own making, and today they are not afraid to do so. I can’t remember having heard so many as here. Clara Guldberg Ravn even adds them in abundance at the very first section of the ouverture, which is quite unusual. In the second repeat of the middle section – here we get two repeats, resulting in ABABA, which explains the length of nearly ten minutes – the tempo sometimes slows down and short pauses are inserted. How often, where and when a player should add embellishments is a matter of debate and partly a matter of taste. I appreciate the creativity here, but sometimes feel that Ms Ravn goes a little over the top. That is especially the case in the pair of menuets that closes the Concerto in F. There she almost rewrites the solo line in the repeat of the first menuet. That is a bad habit we know from many opera performances.

This does not prevent me from recommending this disc. It is vintage Telemann; the music shows his unlimited creativity and the qualities mentioned above in abundance. With Telemann, one never gets bored. Clara Guldberg Ravn is a brilliant player, and the members of Concerto Copenhagen, with the admirable Fredrik From at the first violin, are a perfect match."

MusicWeb International, 01.06.2026, Johan van Veen