The Best of Telemann

My rating: 9/10

My mini-review is for people like me – people who enjoy listening to some “classical music”, but have almost no knowledge about it.

To be precise: Georg Philipp Telemann was a Baroque composer and some people point out that Baroque music should be considered as “early music” rather than classical music.

To me “The Best of Telemann” is a great “album”. I am not a specialist and I don't know how to describe music properly, so I will do it in my own words. To me the music is “warm”, relaxing and enjoyable. Most importantly the music is not “whining” (if you know what I mean) and not depressing – rather the opposite, without being pompous.

I've learned about Georg Philipp Telemann while visiting the city Żary (in Poland). I saw this memorial bench and I got interested.

Then I found many interesting things about Telemann, especially on Wikipedia:

“Georg Philipp Telemann (14 March 1681 – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes.”

“He remained at the forefront of all new musical tendencies and his music is an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles.”

“Telemann was the most prolific composer of his time: his oeuvre comprises more than 3,000 pieces. The first accurate estimate of the number of his works was provided by musicologists only during the 1980s and 1990s, when extensive thematic catalogues were published. During his lifetime and the latter half of the 18th century, Telemann was very highly regarded by colleagues and critics alike.”

“Telemann's music was one of the driving forces behind the late Baroque and the early Classical styles. Starting in the 1710s he became one of the creators and foremost exponents of the so-called German mixed style, an amalgam of German, French, Italian and Polish styles. Over the years, his music gradually changed and started incorporating more and more elements of the galant style, but he never completely adopted the ideals of the nascent Classical era: Telemann's style remained contrapuntally and harmonically complex, and already in 1751 he dismissed much contemporary music as too simplistic.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Philipp_Telemann

The same day I ordered the above CD and I am very happy about it.

PS. I've read that some “tracks” on “The Best of Telemann” are just parts of some bigger compositions, but to me it was totally inconsequential. You can read more about it on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Telemann-G-P/product-reviews/B00004TQOX/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm/179-5391325-9081501?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B00004TQOX/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm/278-1321249-5450513?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

(Monday, 7 December 2015)