An attractive programme of suites and concertos – two of each – comes from the Orchestre Musica Antiqua under their director, Christian Mendoze. Musica Antiqua were founded some 15 years ago but their representation on disc, at least in the UK, has been infrequent. As we might expect, these musicians bring a markedly French atmosphere to Telemann’s Suites. And why not? Telemann was drawn to French ouvertures and their appended suites of dances at an early age and his love of them never deserted him. In the Suite in C major, variously subtitled Wassermusik and Hamburger Ebb und Fluth, indigenous French gestures especially can be felt in rhythmic inegalites and in the ornamented resolution of several final cadences. This Suite is colourfully scored for pairs of recorders and oboes with bassoon and strings and it is the woodwind department of the Ensemble which gives the performance its lustre. That is not to imply any serious shortcoming in the string playing but rather that the recording balance favours the wind instruments. None of the four works, in fact, is well served by the acoustic, which is hollow in sound and reverberant in a way that only intermittently captures the character of the instruments; and for my ears the solo and concertino players are placed too close to the microphone.
Whatever the shortcomings of the recording itself, however – and readers’ opinions may well differ from mine – the spirited and mainly stylish playing of these musicians is hardly open to question. In the D major Suite the solo viola da gamba, to which Telemann gives pride of place throughout, is expressively played by Philippe Foulon. He is a gambist who proves his eloquence above all in the fine Sarabande of the work.
The two concertos are for solo woodwind and strings. The A minor work is scored for pairs of recorders, oboes and violins with basso continuo, while that in E minor, the best-known piece in the programme, features an unusual partnership of recorder and flute, the old and the new, so to speak. The A minor Concerto is the slighter of the two and is the one work here which Telemann enthusiasts may not have in their library. It is an engaging piece with lively dialogue among the three instrumental groups; but it lacks the colourful invention of the E minor Concerto, with its tender slow movements and wild, swirling Polish dance finale. What the performances lack in finesse is generously compensated for in sheer interpretative esprit. An enjoyable disc.'