Telemann: Suite & Concertos

I bought this recording (in the MP3 version) after hearing the A minor on the radio. That piece is an old favorite of mine, from an old CD featuring Hans-Martin Linde.

Colpron, the recorder soloist here, breathes new life into this old gem. The performance is by turns sprightly, understated, boisterous, and a little coy. It's a sheer delight.

The other works on the recording are welcome additions to my collection. The featured violinist, Manfred Kraemer, brings just as much verve and class as Colpron. Telemann wrote SO MANY works (approx. 3,000) that it's relatively easy to run into Telemann you've never heard. The other concerti here are like Telemann's best: enjoyable, even after hearing them dozens of times.

Highly recommended.

There is nothing like finding a recording of "old chestnuts" i.e. repertoire so well known and sooooooo over-recorded, that has such nouveau swagger, sass and style! I have played these on the oboe, recorder and flute and accompanied these concerti on the harpsichord over many years, but this is a version of these Telemann treasures that needs to be heard. The interpretations are so wonderful on the parts of the entire ensemble that I found myself surprised and delighted at every turn. You can tell that these are musicians of the highest degree that are having complete abandon with these wondrous concerti. The Suite in A Minor is undoubtedly the biggest surprise here, with free ornamentations and tempi that is as varied and unconventional from every other recording that I have ever heard or performed myself. There is indeed a playfulness and an amazing understanding of how these pieces, in the french-style should and perhaps did sound. This recording has brought new life to these tired ears. Anyone who knows about ornamentation in Baroque Music, watch out, because you ain't heard nothin' until you have heard this!!! EXTREMELY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Sorry, but I am putting Rampal aside for a while (not forever!)