Pamela Thorby’s new two-disc set looks at first glance pretty hardcore: one disc of sonatas with continuo and a second of solo fantasias (originally for flute), all by Telemann, might just look like recorder overload. Yet that would be forgetting the ever-engaging personas of composer and interpreter. Telemann organised his published music with Bachian rigour to illustrate a range of styles and formal types – dances, fugues, arias, preludes, etc – but he also let his voice speak out in every bar; there’s always something going on, and we are never on autopilot.

Thorby shows her alertness to the music’s variety by ringing the changes in her continuo department of cello, lute, guitar, bassoon and harpsichord, and in the fantasias from the sheer interpretative intelligence and authority with which she shapes them. Telemann’s ‘solo polyphony’ is in many ways clearer and more readily comprehended than Bach’s, which may well have the effect for the performer of making it easier to stay in touch with its underlying Baroque manners. Whatever, it is certain that Thorby finds the character of each piece thanks to a command of articulation, rhetorical timing and spontaneity that seems totally innate – you feel that, far from ‘applying’ an interpretation to it, she simply can’t help herself. Her continuo partners in the sonatas are classy, by the way, but special mention goes to the lyrical and gentlemanly bassoon of Peter Whelan.

As it happens, Erik Bosgraaf also recorded Telemann’s solo fantasias for Brilliant back in 2008, dancing through them with graceful ease. His new disc of sonatas has five in common with Thorby’s, though with just a harpsichord for accompaniment, so clearly it offers less colour than her continuo team, the fullness and resourcefulness of Francesco Corti’s playing notwithstanding. Bosgraaf’s technical command is again of a high (sometimes dazzling) order, including
a more even tone across the compass than Thorby’s, which doubtless results in greater overall comfort to the ear but also perhaps a tendency to whizz over the surface at moments where Thorby has interesting points to make. The churchy recording is also a factor in making these performances, undeniably exciting for their virtuoso flair, seem a little distanced and impersonal compared to the more intimate passion of Thorby. Both, however, are bound to please in their way.