Telemann: Three Cantatas

The goal of the Telemann Festival Days in Magdeburg is to perform the works by Georg Philipp Telemann in concert with artists of international rank. The focus of the festival program is formed by full-length, magnificent compositions including 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 day of the festival, Telemann again proves to be among the eighteenth-century’s most important composers of sacred music.

Throughout his life Telemann collaborated with outstanding poets who wrote his sacred music texts mostly for complete annual cycles. This practice enabled him to design each annual cycle – seventy as a rule - with two cantatas for each Sunday and feast day, in accordance with distinctive program concepts. Telemann's 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. Telemann often goes far beyond the customary expressive intensity of the traditional two-part form involving the setting of biblical quotations, resulting in highly gripping and brilliant music!

- CPO [Translated from German notes]