With works and performances of such bristling vitality and colour‚ no excuses need be made for Telemann. Volume 1 (11/00) exhibited‚ along with the Baroque’s finest viola concerto and ‘galant’ divertimenti‚ the composer’s early penchant for Polish flavours in some fine ripieno concertos. Lindsay Kemp noted Musica Antiqua Köln’s tightly­controlled‚ full­blooded performances: to say glibly that this is more of the same would unjustly deflate MAK’s missionary intent to show the diversity of a composer who‚ in Goebel’s words‚ ‘could polish the rough surface of a nut until it shone like bright gold’. Perhaps there is a touch less raw invention in this collection than the first volume but the more I listen‚ the more I wonder. The programme begins with the emphatically dynamic Sinfonia spirituosa‚ more often heard with its ad lib trumpet part but arguably better off without it; the second movement (which looks a slight entity on paper) is shaped with all the poise and elegance of Goebel at his most cultivated. So‚ too‚ the Overture in D‚ where the opening saccadé (‘jerked’) rhythms receive an arrow­like precision of ensemble‚ although concertante cellist Jaap ter Linden – returning to his alma mater for a guest appearance – appears less comfortable than one might have imagined. Monica Huggett’s account with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (with Sarah Cunningham as viola da gamba soloist) smiles rather more graciously on proceedings. Between such opulent generosity‚ Goebel interleaves three ‘concertos’ for four solo violins‚ sui generis pieces providing transparent delicacies of the sort Telemann offers in his 12 Fantasias for solo violin. They are life­loving vignettes‚ interchanging poignant twists with sparkling extroversion. Even less conventional‚ and just as innovative‚ is the Concerto in A‚ Die Relinge (a sort of toad in the Grimm brothers’ dictionary)‚ a work which explores a testingly high tessitura for a ‘violine principale’ above three further violin parts‚ viola and continuo. Setting out to play Vivaldi at his own game‚ Telemann lays a charmingly derivative ritornello at the mercy of an unruly band of fiddlers who produce clusters of bariolage‚ drones and rustic harmonic shifts to ruffle the bourgeoisie. The final minuet manages to keep everyone happy. This is where Telemann could not be in better hands. Goebel and his thrusting virtuoso band have the measure of almost everything that this mercurial composer throws at them. A vitally­conceived new release‚ especially for those who think Telemann is a poor man’s Bach. He’s just different.