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Telemann Paris Quartets Volume 1: 6 Quadri
SOMMCD 0698 (SOMM Recordings, CD)
DDD
FIRST RELEASE (14 March 2025)
Playing time: 74'03"
Tracks: 27
Booklet pages: 8
℗ 2025 SOMM Recordings
© 2025 SOMM Recordings
Main country of recording: United Kingdom
Country of manufacture: European Union
Received: 7 February 2025
This item is available to review
Rachel Brown, flute
Adrian Butterfield, violin
Gavin Kibble, viola da gamba
Sarah McMahon, cello
Silas Wollston, harpsichord
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) was - to characterize him in contemporary terms - a workaholic, thanks to which we have, amongst his three-thousand-plus works, his two sets of marvellously rich Paris Quartets. SOMM Recordings is pleased to release Telemann Paris Quartets Volume 1: 6 Quadri, featuring leading period-instrument specialists from The London Handel Players.
At the height of his phenomenal productivity, Telemann held the positions of Kantor at the Johanneum Lateinschule in Hamburg; Kapellmeister to the five largest churches in the city; and Director of the Hamburg Opera. He also had obligations to the courts in Eisenach and Bayreuth. As if that wasn't enough, he embarked on an ambitious project of self-publication of his works. Amongst these were Quartets for violin, flute, viola da gamba or cello, and continuo; divided into 2 Concertos, 2 Ballets, 2 Sonatas.
The first set of quartets, or quadri, was published in Hamburg - certainly by 1730 though the exact date is unknown - and such was their popularity that they were republished in Paris by Le Clerc in 1736 without Telemann's permission. It would seem that this prompted him to make a long-awaited visit to the French capital where he stayed for eight months in 1737–38. While there, he composed a second glorious set of quartets, naming his two collections Quadri and Nouveaux Quatuors. In the latter part of the twentieth century, the editors of the Telemann Musikalische Werke titled the two sets collectively as The Paris Quartets, by which name we still know them.
As their extended title indicates, the Quadri are not six works of the same genre. Instead, they comprise two Italianate concertos, two German-style sonatas, and two Balletti or suites of French dances, bringing together a variety of national styles.
The ensemble of London Handel Players is flexible in size, consisting primarily of strings, flute/recorder and harpsichord.