Das Kleine Konzert - Telemann: Drei sind, die da zeugen im Himmel (2007)

On CPO's George Philipp Telemann: Drei sind, die da zeugen im Himmel, conductor Hermann Max leads the Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert through another installment delving into the largest repertory ever created by a major classical composer, Telemann's sacred cantatas, of which more than 1,400 survive. One would think Telemann would have been burnt out over time in writing so many cantatas, but apparently not; George Philipp Telemann: Drei sind, die da zeugen im Himmel contains four very different cantatas from differing historical points and locations within Telemann's long career -- approximately 68 years -- as a composer. The title cantata is an early one, prepared for a Trinity service in Eisenach, Johann Sebastian Bach's hometown. It sounds the most like Bach of these four, a big, bold cantata with excited Baroque trumpets and palpitating percussion. Ich hatte viel Bekümmernisse, written for the second Sunday in Lent for Frankfurt in 1717, has a dramatic, almost operatic quality that betrays the influence of the French style, an element that Bach was also dealing with at about this time, though in a completely different way. Bach would have subjugated the sighing chromatics in the aria Ach, die Schmerzen in a manner that would have found a way to integrate such figures into a texture of contrary motion; that Telemann chooses a very naked and more parallel approach is striking and the result pushes the envelope so much it is nearly atonal.

Wie liegt dies Stadt so wüste, written for the tenth Sunday after Trinity in Hamburg in 1727, has a more subdued, cosmopolitan sound and opens with a remarkable passage with the whole orchestra playing in low registers; it could almost pass for something written in Berlin, say, 200 years later. Er kam, lobsingt ihm, written presumably for Hamburg for Ascension Sunday on a text by gifted poet Daniel Schliebeler, demonstrates Telemann in his galant mode -- the shape of his melodic ideas still retains orientation in the Baroque, but the underpinnings and layout of the music are much less busy and demonstrate a grasp -- nay, mastery -- of classical style. It's astounding that such a very old dog like Telemann -- he was 77 years old in 1759 -- was able to adjust to new tricks like these. Moreover, Telemann seems particularly stimulated by Schliebeler's text and attempts a kind of fusion between the tone of the music and that of the poetry that goes far beyond mere illustration.

The performances are ideal; although the singers are first rate, no one really stands out because they are all working so hard in the service of Telemann's music. Perhaps there is only one element of CPO's George Philipp Telemann: Drei sind, die da zeugen im Himmel that seems a little off -- the photo of conductor Hermann Max on the back of the booklet. He looks insane.