Telemann: Three Cantatas

Cantatas of Gripping Power The goal of the Telemann Festival Days of Magdeburg is to perform works by Georg Philipp Telemann in presentations with artists of international rank. The focus of the festival program is formed by full-length, magnificent compositions such as operas, oratorios, passions, and cantatas. Telemann’s »absolutely stunning productivity« (Georg von Dadelsen) manifests itself in special measure in his cantata oeuvre. And in the cantatas heard on this new CD, recorded during a concert held at the next-to-last festival days, Telemann again proves to be the eighteenth-century’s most important composer of sacred music. Throughout his life he collaborated with outstanding poets who mostly wrote his sacred music texts for complete annual cycles. This practice enabled him to design each annual cycle – as a rule seventy-two cantatas for each Sunday and feast day – in accordance with distinctive program concepts. His compositions of great variety are often opulently endowed with a full instrumental ensemble and in this way emphasize the significance of each particular feast day. And Telemann often goes far beyond the customary expressive intensity of the traditional two-part form involving the setting of biblical quotations. This is highly gripping and brilliant music!