London Handel Players
74:03
SOMM recordings SOMCD 0698
It would not be an idle boast or some wild hyperbole to say that Telemann wrote unfailingly well for the flute in the chamber setting, and the Quadri (1730) and the Nouveaux Quatuors (1738) give clear proof of this facility. These works collectively known as “Paris Quartets” show a master of the “mixed taste” in full control of the musical assemblage at his fingertips; these works even foreshadow L-G Guillemain’s Conversations Galantes et Amusantes (1743) by several years.
Indeed, there are several stylistic and rhetorical devices that performers can get to grips with. From the CD booklet alone, we can tell the London Handel Players have understood the make-up of these Quadri (first published in Hamburg, reprinted in Paris 1736 without composer’s consent by Le Clerc) to wish to tackle these elegant and eloquent gems of the chamber repertoire. There is already a good shelf-load of recordings; some are absolute benchmarks (Sony-Vivarté 1997, Kuijken brothers with Gustav Leonhardt) and Jed Wentz with Musica ad Rhenum on Brilliant Classics to name just two. The latter versions push the tempi with exhilarating effect! Here Rachel Brown and players carve a middle ground with a pleasing focus on the details of these cleverly conceived pieces. The two Balletti (i.e. French dance suites with an italianate designation to match the Quadri in the publication’s title) exude a playful amalgam of French style mixed with new idioms. The Réplique movement gives responses in turn as if saying: “Bonjour”! The two Airs almost certainly come from Telemann’s cantatas, the E minor one closely mimicking the first aria of TVWV 1:448, Ergeuss dich zur Salbung, (printed in 1725-6), which Handel also liked enough to re-deploy.
Typical of the composer, there are plenty of devices, twists and turns for the players to get to grips with, and the joyful interplay of “passing the baton” in these uniquely blended forms is every present. What is astounding, is just how the composer pulled these cleverly crafted works together during a period of such frenetic activity, as 1730 was for him. Does this ensemble pull it all together? Gladly, it is a pleasant and passable joint effort to present these aforementioned elements in their correct guise, without surpassing those two formidable benchmark recordings previously cited.
David Bellinger