Having made five previous albums of Telemann on Brilliant Classics, Erik Bosgraaf has demonstrated a special affinity with this landmark figure of the German Baroque. For his latest recording, the Dutch virtuoso has turned to sonatas, quartets and concertos which feature the recorder alongside the oboe, creating a unique survey of Telemann’s chamber output.

As Bosgraaf remarks in his own booklet essay for the album, Telemann played the recorder himself (as well as a host of other instruments) and understood from intimate practical experience both the technical limitations and possibilities of the instrument.

According to Bosgraaf, Telemann is ‘the Baroque composer who wrote the most idiomatically for the instrument.’

Central to the album is a collection of six trio sonatas, four of them cast in minor keys, exploiting the melancholic timbre of the Baroque oboe.

In the same contemplative vein is an A minor Concerto a 7 for pairs of recorders, oboes and violins plus basso continuo. The D minor Quartet, TWV 43:d1, is drawn from Telemann’s effervescent collection of Tafelmusik. Lightening the mood is a sparkling G major Quartet, TWV 43:G6, alongside several other quartets from TWV:43, all featuring the lively interplay that makes Telemann so satisfying to play as well as listen to.

In making this album, Bosgraaf has been reliving his youth, and his introduction to Telemann’s music at the age of 10: his aim was to recover a high-spirited vitality to the music in performance, which complements the remarkable invention and imagination of his approach to Telemann on his previous albums.

‘One of the most interesting and versatile recorder players on the scene, and indeed one known for his Telemann’ – Gramophone