musica Dei donum
CD reviews
Georg Philipp TELEMANN (1681 - 1767): "Wind Overtures Vol. 2"
L'Orfeo Bläserensemble
Dir: Carin van Heerden
rec: Nov 6 - 9, 2017, Gnadau, Brüdergemeine
CPO - 555 212-2 (© 2021) (58'42")
Liner-notes: E/D
Cover, track-list & booklet
Scores
Spotify
Overture in F 'Alster Ouvertüre' (TWV 55,F11)a;
Overture (Quintet) in D (TWV 44,3);
Overture (Quintet) in F (TWV 44,9)b
Carin van Heerden, Philipp Wagner, Thomas Meranera, Anabel Rösera, oboe;
Nikolaus Brada, Makiko Kurabayashia, bassoon;
Stephan Katte, Sebastian Fischer, Elliot Seidmana, Achim Schmid-Eggera, horn;
David Bergmüller, luteb;
Anne Marie Dragosits, harpsichordb
Wind instruments have always played a major role in music history. In the Renaissance, cornetts and sackbuts were played separately, in instrumental music, but especially used for the support (or substitution) of voices in sacred repertoire. During the baroque period, ensembles of musicians who were able to play various instruments (Ratsmusik, town waits), took an important role in communities, and they played wind instruments at public occasions. As most of the music they played has not survived, little of their repertoire is part of performance practice today. In the classical era, music for winds, known as Harmoniemusik, became very popular, and this repertoire is still very much alive. From that angle any disc devoted to baroque music for wind ensembles is most welcome, and that goes in particular for the contributions of Georg Philipp Telemann, who is his brilliant self in the pieces that have come down to us. A few years ago the winds of L'Orfeo Barockorchester, directed by the oboist Carin van Heerden, started a project concerning the recording of Telemann's complete music for winds. The first volume was released in 2018 and included one concerto and four overtures. The present disc consists of three further overtures, but of a different complexion.
The main item on this disc is fairly well-known, and that is largely thanks to the fact that it has marked programmatic traces. It has the form of an overture or orchestral suite, a genre that was very popular in Telemann's time. It had its roots in France, and it was called after its opening movement, ouverture, a piece in ABA form, opening with a slow section in dotted rhythm, followed by a fugal section in a fast tempo. This was followed by a sequence of movements, many of which were dances. Overtures were usually scored for two oboes, bassoon, strings and basso continuo. However, Telemann was one who often added other instruments, or even included a solo part for a particular instrument, such as the recorder or the viola da gamba. In a number of overtures, he included movements of a descriptive character. One of the most famous is the so-called Alster Ouverture. The Alster is the river crossing Hamburg, where Telemann was appointed Musikdirektor in 1725.
This overture was written in his first year. It is scored for four horns, two oboes (which were doubled) and one bassoon (also doubled). It is interesting to mention that this piece was originally intended as the introduction to a serenata Auf zur Freude, zum Scherzen, zum Klingen (TWV 13,6), which has been lost and of which only the text has been preserved. This work was to be performed on 4 June 1725 in honour of the visiting Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife. Part of the festivities was a banquet "to which one travelled, with musical accompaniment, in a sloop overlaid in red". This, as Manfred Fechner writes in his liner-notes, "suggests that the musicians were placed on one of the sailboats and played the wind version of the Alster Overture (...) as an entrée to the serenata, which was performed at a later hour (and on land)". One is reminded here of the performance of Handel's Water Music at the Thames. The history of this work is a bit complicated. A manuscript in Dresden includes a later version in which two movements were replaced by others. The reason may have been a revival of this work in 1728, when it was to be performed indoors. This may also explain that the second oboes were to be replaced by violins. It was quite common at the time to adapt a work to the circumstances under which it was to be performed. Pieces for winds either omitted a basso continuo, or this part was ad libitum, and could be included when the work was performed indoors. At such an occasion the wind parts could also be replaced by strings. The performers have been a little inconsistent in that they have included all the movements, although they were probably never performed together. From a historical point of view it may have been better to select one version and play the alternative movements as a kind of addendum.
From a musical point of view one would not like to miss them (even though they have been included in recordings of the version with strings by other ensembles). Telemann is on his very best here; he certainly was a master in the musical depiction of people and situations. Here we get a musical portrait of Hamburg and its surroundings. The second movement is about Pallas, the goddess who cherished a special affection for the city, and it includes imitation of cannonades fired by Pallas in honour of the guests, played by the bassoons. The bells of Hamburg are depicted in the fourth movement. The seventh movement is a concert of frogs and crows and is one of Telemann's most humorous creations. Something comparable is the closing movement, called 'The hasty retreat of the shepherds and nymphs', in the form of a fugue. It seems likely that here those characters are depicted that played a role in the ensuing serenata.
The programme opens with the Overture in D for a more 'conventional' scoring of two oboes, two horns and bassoon. Despite this work's title, it does not open with a French overture, but rather an allegro in the form of a sonata movement. It is followed by four dances. Two of them - menuet and rigaudon - have a trio, and one is a character piece, Paisano. The work concludes with a piece called Harlequinade, referring to the world of the commedia dell'arte.
The last item is the Overture in F, again for two oboes, two horns and bassoon; here we get a performance with basso continuo, and this way this disc shows the variety in the ways wind music could be performed. This piece is one of many that we owe to the copyist's activities of Telemann's colleague and friend Christoph Graupner. This work opens with a French overture, which is followed by a rondeau, a menuet and a gigue. Notable is that in the overture the horns time and again intervene with triplets, which has a rhythmically unsettling effect. In the menuet oboes and horns alternate.
This disc is once again a testimony to Telemann's brilliance. Every movement has something special and all the pieces are highly enjoyable, in different ways. I cannot imagine better performances than we get here. The effects that Telemann wanted to achieve in his Alster Overtures come off to full extent. The Harlequinade from the Overture in D is given an exciting performance. This disc is a delight from start to finish, and if you love wind music, you will undoubtedly greatly enjoy this disc.
Johan van Veen (© 2022)
Relevant links:
L'Orfeo Bläserensemble