Telemann: Concertos for strings. Musica Antiqua Koln/Reinhard Goebel (Archiv Produktion)
It has been the misfortune of Georg Philipp Telemann to be viewed by later generations as a figure in the shadow of Bach. Reinhard Goebel, who regards it as "completely pointless to pit the works of these two masters against each other", points to Telemann's domain as "the ingratiating art of picking and mixing to please the ear through the ear." In performance, however - even in performances of Telemann - Goebel is not a man to be merely ingratiating. The concertos and divertimentos here, chosen on a theme of Polish influence, are played with his familiar, surprise-laden sense of audacity. Taut, highly-energised, sometimes explosive and fiercely-drilled, Musica Antiqua Koln's adrenaline-rich playing adds lustre to their own reputation as well as Telemann's.
Feldman: Atlantis (hat/now/ART)
The three orchestral works on this disc divide neatly by date. The earliest, Atlantis (1959) for chamber orchestra, will strike anyone who knows only the composer's later music as hyperactive in Feldman's scheme of things. It's full of flurries and flutters, using the latitude created by graphic notation to grant players freedom in performance - it was written at a time when indeterminacy was a buzz-word of the musical avant-garde. By contrast, String Quartet and Orchestra (1973) and Oboe and Orchestra (1976), project mostly soft sounds into a sustained field of stasis, to find independent radiance and decay - no one fills stilled time with the skill of Feldman. The soloists (the Pellegrini Quartet and oboist Han de Vries) and the Frankfurt RSO under Lucas Vis draw haunting patterns with the muted gestures and delicate shadings of Feldman's world.
Schumann: Piano Trio No 3; Fantasiestucke Op 88; Piano Quartet. Florestan Trio, Thomas Riebl (viola). (Hyperion)
Apart from the Piano Quartet, the works here, completing the Florestan Trio's survey of Schumann's piano trios, are by no means well known. The Trio No. 3, and the trio that ended up as the Fantasy Pieces, Op. 88, are rarities in the concert hall and by no means to be ranked in quality with the Piano Quartet. The Florestan's approach is to adopt some of the delve-into-the-timbre characteristics of period performances, particularly in the blending of tone between violin and cello, drawing the listener, as it were, inside an ensemble that offers highly-detailed playing. At times, there's more characterisation than real character, and forward momentum doesn't always seem a high priority. But for all that, there's still much to relish in this British group's highly-coloured playing.
