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Steven Zohn, Telemann, old and new, Early Music, Volume 42, Issue 2, May 2014, Pages 314–318, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/cau051
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Extract
It is surely a measure both of Telemann’s rich and voluminous output and our ever-expanding knowledge of his legacy that fully half of the dozen CDs reviewed below include at least one first recording. No less encouraging is the fact that a number of long-time champions of his music continue to explore repertorial byways, even as new generations of musicians have their say with more canonical works. Just when we think we know Telemann, he surprises us anew.
Simon Standage and Collegium Musicum 90 have been among the composer’s most persuasive advocates for nearly a quarter of a century now, and their latest release, Telemann: The autograph scores (Chandos chan787, rec 2011, 79′), does not disappoint in presenting several unfamiliar works, including a premiere recording of the Divertimento in Ey, twv50:21. This piece, along with two of the accompanying overture-suites (twv55:d23 and f16), were written when Telemann was in his eighties and no longer producing orchestral music on a regular basis. All three are preserved in composing scores (hence the recording’s title), though two more works on the recording, the Overture-suite for solo violin and strings, twv55:a7, and the Quartet for strings, twv43:d4, are instead preserved in scribal copies. Especially noteworthy is the Divertimento, which represents a fascinating blend of mid-century symphonic style with the French suite, the dance movements bearing characteristic titles that collectively portray an aristocratic day spent hunting. Taken together, the three late works offer a fresh look at the by then well-worn genre of the overture-suite, demonstrating that the octogenarian Telemann was not content merely to repeat himself. Standage and his ensemble deliver elegant performances that, especially in the Quartet and A major Suite, also have the requisite panache.
