Concerto for Flute And Concertante Harpsichord in D Major:
About the composer, George Philipp Telemann:
Georg Philipp Telemann (14 March 1681 – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of the city's five main churches....
Telemann was one of the most prolific composers in history (at least in terms of surviving oeuvre) and was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time—he was compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally. Telemann's music incorporates several national styles (French, Italian) and is even at times influenced by Polish popular music. He remained at the forefront of all new musical tendencies and his music is an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles....
nope I shall take the relaxation AOW..and what u doin postin at 3AM?..lol hugssss
ReplyDeleteI queue up many posts well in advance. I didn't really post at that ungodly hour!
DeleteNot much of a beat.
ReplyDeleteHey! Whatta you expect?! Look who you're talkin to.
My tastes in music are quite eclectic. I enjoy many types of music -- including rock from "my era": CCR, the Eagles, etc.
DeleteWell, Marine, at lest you're honest. I admire your lack of pretension. ;-)
DeleteWonderful performance! Elegant, sprightly, perfectly controlled technique.
ReplyDeleteBeing self-taught was more common in the 17th and 18th centuries than most would imagine. For one thing there were no conservatories such as we have today. Also, music was a far more common part of ordinary family life then than it has been for many decades in recent times. So, virtually everyone with a shred of musical ability learned how o read music, sing and play at least one instrument. They didn't give concerts, as such very often -- they played to entertain each other in the evenings. It was an integral part of family life in many homes back then. Remember there was no gramophone, no movies, no radio, no television, no computer -- not even a telephone to distract people from their immediate surroundings. And there few-if-any junk publications either.
Culturally, it was altogether a much healthier time.
People have said to me, "All music from that time sounds alike. I can't tell the difference between Bach, Handel, Telemann, Vivaldi Quantz and any of the others."
Well, YES -- untl you get to know the composers as individuals, and then the incredible genius of both J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel becomes evident.
So why is it easy to think "they all sound like?"
Because they wrote to formula, used the same basic harmonic vocabulary, and very similar-if-not-identical "figurations" -- i.e. patterns of accompaniment and melodic variation. HOWEVER, the special GENIUS is found in the utterly brilliant, uniquely imaginative ways the greatest ones -- particularly Bach and Handel -- used, reused and combined the various stock elements that had been in vogue for about two-hundred years.
The easiest way to explain would t take the ALPHABET. Imagine for just a second the billion, trillion, sextillion, quintillion ways those 26 symbols have been used. The difference between Shakespeare and plain old smut may be vast, but both extremes use exactly the same ELEMENTS to convey their message.
I've had the great joy of performing this -- and several other works for flute and harpsichord by Telemann, Quantz, Bach, and Handel -- with an excellent flautisr who his living playing background music for commercials. He was not as fine a player as Paula Robison, who is absolutely tops -- though nowhere near the singular class that seems to belong solely to James Galway -- but he had tremendous technical facility, could read anything at sight, so I had no complaints.
We performed pieces of this sort mostly in various churches where I was often forced to use the organ instead of the harpsichord, but Baroque music is supremely adaptable, as the texting AOW's excellent video indicated somewhere along the line, so such substitution was never a problem.
Thanks for the nice change from potatoes,
A very refreshing change from the ordinary...especially what passes for normal, now a days.
ReplyDeletetmw
I've seen Paula Robison in concert several times.
ReplyDeleteGreat talent.
INDEED! But I would still insist that Galway is far and away the best flautist I've ever heard, and believe me, I've heard 'em all.
DeleteGalway is like Wanda Landowska -- meaning there is so much subtlety, so much depth, and so much affectionate, utterly sincere personal identification with the music in his playing it takes on a luminous, larger-than-life quality that is truly unique. It's a spiritual thing.
Thi is no meant to detract from Paula Robison whose work is exquisite. She is a great virtuoso. So was the world famous French guy whose name escapes, but whose playing always struck me as empty virtuosity. Nothing wistful, plaintive, musing, or truly merry about it.
And then there was -- or is -- Ransom Wilson another tremendous virtuoso recognized by New York's musical elite, but he seems o have disappeared.
The world is full of marvellously gifted players, but very few ARTISTS capable of touching one's heart.
Of course one must HAVE a heart in order to be touched. Studied heartlessness has been too much in vogue since the SICK-sties.
Hey! Are you familiar with Tiger Bay, a British film ha came out in '59?
JEAN PIERRE RAMPAL! Dear me! the little gray cells are not functioning as well as they used to. RAMPAL was, of course, the most FAMOUS flute player, until James Galway came along.
DeleteRampal is easy to admire, but hard to love. I can't say it any better than that.
I subscribe to David Hertzberg's YouTube channel. Excellent material, and he posts videos/audios with frequency!
ReplyDeleteMr. Hertzberg has additional channels -- as seen on the right sidebar at the above link.
I am ALL OVER YouTube whenever I'm not at the PIANO keyboard. I have run into Mr. Herzberg any number of times. Like so many things in life YouTube is what you choose to make of it.
ReplyDeleteEducation should be about learning HOW to CHOOSE WISELY and WELL from all the delights and temptations on Life's incredibly varied Smorgasbord. ;-).