Those who think that Telemann was a skilful, formulaic Baroque note-spinning concerto machine need to hear his music played by Baroque experts who are skilful enough not to be formulaic note-spinners, like the Dutch ensemble Rebel, who offer a provocative bill of fare containing six mixed wind and string concertos. These are vibrant, colourful musicians who are not afraid to spike conventionally sweet textures with hot pepper, or to roughen up edges that others smooth out.

To better illustrate what gives Rebel’s performances their distinction, let’s do comparison taste tests. Take the Presto finale of the G major Concerto for two violins with Reinhard Goebel/Musica Antiqua Köln (DG), a clean, suave, somewhat square, dynamically uniform performance whose basic tempo slightly slows down as the music progresses. Rebel’s harder-hitting, more dynamically contrasted interpretation jacks up the tempo several notches and digs into the repeated-note theme with more forceful accents. In the E minor Concerto for traverso and violin, the second movement’s pizzicato string accompaniment is beautifully contoured against the sensitive soloists in Chandos’s recording with Simon Standage and Collegium Musicum 90 (4/92). Rebel’s musicians opt for a slower tempo that allows the soloists and ensemble more informally interactive wiggle-room, with plenty of melodic rejoinders from the harpsichord continuo. After hearing the D major Trumpet and Violin Concerto with warm-toned virtuoso brass players like Ludwig Güttler (Berlin Classics) and Otto Sauter (Brilliant Classics), the thinner sonority of David Kjar’s natural trumpet at first seems like nothing special. Listen further, however, and you’ll notice an uncommon equanimity between the trumpet and violin protagonists. A stimulating and superbly engineered release, highly recommended.