In celebration of the 25th-anniversary of London Handel Players in 2025, SOMM Recordings released Telemann “Paris” Quartets, Volume 1 [SOMMCD 0698]. Critics lauded the album for its deep affection and impeccable musicianship, with Gramophone highlighting flautist Rachel Brown’s “easy agility” and the group’s rich, inviting tone; and BBC Music Magazine praising their attention to subtle, expressive details. Now, SOMM is releasing Telemann “Paris” Quartets, Volume 2 with LHP, featuring once again leading period-instrument specialists Rachel Brown flute; Adrian Butterfield violin; Gavin Kibble viola da gamba; Sarah McMahon cello; and Silas Woolston harpsichord.
In 1737, Georg Philipp Telemann paid a long-awaited celebrity visit to Paris at the invitation of four prominent French musicians: flute virtuoso Michel Blavet; Franco-Italian violinist Jean-Pierre Guignon; viol player Jean-Baptiste Forqueray the younger, and an unidentified cellist-harpsichordist known in the historical records as Prince Édouard. In preparation for this visit and in admiration of the musicians, Telemann had composed six Quadri, for flute, violin, viola da gamba or cello, and continuo.
Telemann was one of the first great self-publishers, and his publication of the Quadri was such a success that the Parisian publisher Le Clerc brought out an edition without the composer’s permission. This, finally, was the spur for Telemann to take an eight month leave of absence from his full schedule in Hamburg to visit Paris. While there, he composed a second set of quartets—the six Nouveaux Quatuors recorded here. It was in the second half of the twentieth century that the editors of the Telemann Musikalische Werke collectively named these two sets of quartets the “Paris quartets.”
Like the earlier set of Quadri, the six Nouveaux Quatuors are scored for flute, violin, viola da gamba, and continuo, with an optional adaptation of the gamba part for cello. The set comprises six suites, each with six or seven movements, and Telemann exploits countless ways of combining the instruments to create a huge variety of textures.
