Telemann / Cantatas & Chamber

This release is centered around four cantatas taken from the composer's Harmonischer Gottesdienst ('Music for Religious Services'), a collection of cantatas for solo voice, flute, oboe or violin, and harpsichord that, on account of it's idiomatic writing for voice, it's relation to the instrumental parts and the many indications concerning interpretation, rests among the great achievements of the period. One of Telemann's characteristic skills was his ability to imbue the arias with the sort of brilliance that we normally associate with solo concertos (consider the radiance of the initial aria in Deine Toten werden leben), and this extends to his often virtuosic use of the recorder in the works - an instrument with which he was obviously familiar. Indeed, that Telemann was a more than competent player himself can be seen from the quality and quantity of music that he wrote for the recorder, and it is two of his lesser-known creations for the instrument - the E minor Partita and the Trio Sonata in G minor - which form the remainder of this highly engaging disc. Gemma Bertagnolli is widely considered to be one of the leading sopranos in Early Music. She is a favoured soloist of such celebrities as Rene Jacobs, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Fabio Biondi, Diego Fasolis, Trevor Pinnock, Ton Koopman, Ottavio Dantone and many others. Her voice is powerful, lyrical and passionate, always conveying the emotional message of the text. On this new recording (2012) Gemma joins the Early Music group of Stefano Bagliano, also a specialist in the field, in Cantatas for solo soprano, recorder and continuo, drawn from Die Harmonische Gottesdienst, brilliant works displaying vocal and instrumental virtuosity of a high level.