COMPOSERS: Telemann
LABELS: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
ALBUM TITLE: Teleman: Die Hoffnung des Wiedersehens
WORKS: Die Hoffnung des Wiedersehens; arias from Omphale, Six Cantatas, Janus, Almira, Richardus I etc; Violin Concerto in D; Oboe d'amore Concerto
PERFORMER: Dorothee Mields (soprano), Martin Jopp (violin), Carin Heerden (oboe d'amore); L'Orfeo Barockorchester/Michi Gaigg
CATALOGUE NO: 88697901822
The crystal clear quality of Dorothee Mields’s singing has already graced many albums of German mid- to late-Baroque music. Her vocal quality, secure intonation and tasteful use of ornamentation characterise performances that are further enhanced by her sensibility to music and text alike.
This attractive disc is no mere litany of arias extracted from larger works, but a thoughtfully constructed programme in which two instrumental concertos and a secular cantata are interspersed with shorter vocal items. The concertos are for violin and oboe d’amore respectively, and appeal for their rhythmic vitality and idiomatic writing. Telemann was a competent performer on both instruments and he knew very well how to draw on their strengths. Soloists Martin Jopp (violin) and Carin van Heerden (oboe d’amore) are fluent advocates for infrequently encountered pieces and they are given lively support by L’Orfeo Barockorchester under Michi Gaigg’s direction.
The recital, though, is really Mields’s show, its high point perhaps being the cantata Die Hoffnung des Wiedersehens that lends the disc its title. Three colourfully contrasted arias, one of them accompanied by two bassoons, provide an idyllic picture of yearning love, for which Telemann had a hand in writing the text. A delight from start to finish.
Nicholas Anderson