Telemann: Sonata TWV 41:d4 in D minor for recorder & b.c. (Solo 4 (No. 7) from Essercizii Musici)

The Petri/Hannibal duo first appeared on stage in the winter of 1991, and performed their first full concert in the summer of 1992 at the Monastery La Cartuja de la Sierra in Andalusia, Spain. Since then, they have appeared in concert halls and festivals around the world, giving nearly 1500 concerts in programs of music from the late renaissance and early baroque, the classical and romantic periods, to contemporary works written especially for them. Together, they have released five CDs including Kreisler Inspirations (2001) which received the prestigious Deutscher Schallplattenpreis. In 2006, the duo formed OUR Recordings, to present the continuing musical adventures of two most imaginative musicians. In celebration of their 20th anniversary, the duo has newly recorded a program of their most popular Baroque repertoire as a very special gift to the audience, their friends and fans around the world!

Period instrument performances.

Tripla Concordia was established in 1991, and takes its name from a collection of music by Matthew Locke and colleagues published in 1677. They specialise in music from the 16th and 17th centuries, and work with artists such as Fabio Biondi and Alfredo Bernadini.

Sergio Ciomei (harpsichord) collaborated with Cecilia Bartoli on her Opera Proibita recording, preparing and editing the repertoire.

Recording made in 2000.

Few composers were quite as industrious as Telemann. Apart from producing a vast amount of music of the highest quality in all genres, he set up a publishing company in Hamburg in 1728 where his collection The Faithful Music Master was published. This included sonatas, arias, duos and solos. Arias from operas were reduced in scoring to allow domestic performance, and texts set in foreign languages were translated into German so the wider public could enjoy them.

Some of the works on this disc appeared in his fortnightly publication. Scoring was something that Telemann revelled in, and sometimes the same work would appear in different guises. In addition, in an early example of how to boost circulation, he published individual movements over the course of several issues of The Faithful Music Master, thereby allowing the subscriber to collect the complete work.

Telemann was a musical magpie. Collecting styles and influences from France and Italy, he skilfully assimilated them into what would become a German style, which had a considerable influence upon J.S. Bach.

The music on this disc is wonderfully crafted, tuneful, beautifully scored, and the work of a master at the height of his considerable powers.

During his lifetime, Georg Philipp Telemann was widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the period – perhaps the greatest of them all, not forgetting J.S. Bach or Handel.

All of this great range and variety is represented in his works for the flute. Telemann wrote for the recorder as well as for the transverse flute, but the music was intended for either instrument.

The greater part of that music – from solo fantasias and duets to concertos and double concertos – has been gathered in this boxed set, in highly praised recordings by two acclaimed Swedish recorder players: Clas Pehrsson and Dan Laurin. They are supported by continuo players in the chamber music, and by the eminent Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble in the concertos, and matched by soloists such as the acclaimed baroque bassoonist Michael McCraw.