Music by C.P.E. Bach, Quantz, Telemann & Vivaldi performed on Period Instruments

00:00 Sonata in C minor (Georg Philipp Telemann, 1681-1767): Adagio - Allegro - Adagio - Allegro
06:39 Trio Sonata in C major (Johann Joachim Quantz, 1697-1773): Allegro (con brio) - Adagio - Allegro
19:46 Trio in G minor (Antonio Vivaldi, 1678-1741): Allegro ma cantabile - Largo - Allegro non molto
29:47 Trio in F major for Bass Recorder, Viola & Basso Continuo (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, 1714-1788):
Un poco andante - Allegretto - Allegro

Clas Pehrsson, recorders
Predrag Novović, violin & viola
Alf Petersén , violone
Arnold Östman, harpsichord

Recorded August 20-22, 1982, Petrus Church, Stocksund, Sweden

Instruments:
Recorder (Telemann): Copy by M. Klemisch, Holland, of an instrument by I. Steenbergen (early 18th century)
Recorder (Quantz & Vivaldi): Copy by Heinz Roessler, West Germany, of an instrument by I.W. Oberlander (1681-1763)
Recorder (Bach): Alexander Heinrich, East Germany
Violin: School of Maggini, 18th century
Viola: Vienna, 17th century
Violone: Carolus Leeb, Fecit Vienna, 1795
Harpsichord: Copy by Frank Hubbard, USA, of a Flemish original; disposition: 2 8’-register, 1 lute-register

Editions: Schott (Bach & Quantz); Bärenreiter (Telemann); Moeck (Vivaldi)

The trio sonata is one of the most popular musical forms from the baroque. It employs three contrasted voices, one represented by the continuo and the other two usually by treble voices. The term trio has nothing to do with the number of players. A trio sonata can be performed by a single keyboard player (e.g., J.S. Bach's trio sonatas for organ) or by a considerable body of musicians (e.g., with two players of melodic instruments and a continuo group consisting of organ, theorbo, cello, and violone). It was probably most usual to employ four players (as on this recording), where two melodic instruments are opposed to a keyboard player and a player for the bass line.

Composers sometimes suggest various alternatives for the treble parts, while at times (particularly the case during the pre-baroque) the performers are at liberty to choose the instruments themselves, a choice which is only limited by the range of the parts and the general structure of the work. But even when the melodic instruments are specified by the composer (which is often the case in the late baroque), it is not unusual in contemporary praxis to exchange them for others. There are numerous examples of how composers themselves have rearranged their works in this way and, where necessary, have adjusted octaves or transposed the music.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) included in his extensive oeuvre a number of particularly fine trio sonatas. This one in C minor was originally for recorder and oboe, but the oboe part can be realized quite readily on the violin. The most striking music is to be found in the first move-ment, in which the continuo part, apart from the harmonic cadenzas, is entirely built up on one small rhythmic motif.

Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773), flute teacher of Frederick the Great and famous musical theorist of his day, falls as a composer somewhere in between the high baroque and the pre-classical. The work performed here shows him in the latter style, exquisitely galant and far removed from any baroque melancholy.

The trio sonata in G minor by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was, like Telemann's, written for recorder and oboe, but the oboe part can be played by the violin without any problems. In the first movement all the solo writing is for the recorder (perhaps Vivaldi only had access to a less than proficient oboist), but on this recording we have divided the solos between the two melodic instruments. The calm middle movement, with its limited number of simple motifs, encouraged us to improvise extensively.

The most original work on this recording is undoubtedly the trio sonata in F major by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), one of Sebastian’s musical sons. The unique instrumentation, employing viola and bass recorder in the melodic parts, gives a dark and gentle timbre which, in delightful contrast with the light and galant style of the music, creates an atmosphere of chamber music in the best sense of the term.

Clas Pehrsson
Translated by William Jewson

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