$17.40

Arion ensemble
with Christina Mahler
Paris quartets (lV, V, Vl)
1991, MVCD 1040

Telemann was perhaps the first composer of truly international European stature. These works made no small contribution to his reputation being published initially in his home town of Hamburg but then again in Paris, as a result of which he was invited to Paris. His trip lasted 8 months and was a resounding success !

…. perhaps the finest of the many recordings of Telemann’s “Paris Quartets”, an important stage in the composer’s development. Room acoustics, microphonics, instrumental and performance sound, and pressing, all converge here for an imminently successful result. – Gerard Tango.

The only thing I would wish to criticize about this CD is the fact that it is merely a single CD and therefore contains only three of Telemann’s “Nouveaux Quatuors” (Paris Quartets), numbers 4 to 6. For this third CD by the Canadian Early Music ensemble Arion, recorded in 1991 in a church in Montreal, is something really special. Telemann’s musical ideas are here played in such a feminine and francophile way and with such a feeling of “togetherness” within the ensemble that I had never heard the like before. And the fantastic recording technique and the wonderful acoustics cause the period instruments to “melt” together into one (although of course they are all clearly audible), yielding a first-quality listening experience to anyone who is willing to take the time and trouble to sit down and really listen. – Leslie Richford, Reviewer.