Telemann: Fantasias for Viola da gamba Paolo Pandolfo

• Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 - 1767):
• 1Fantasia in C Minor, TWV 40:26: I. Adagio - Allegro - Adagio - Allegro03:05
• 2Fantasia in C Minor, TWV 40:26: II. Allegro02:05
• 3Fantasia in D Major, TWV 40:27: I. Vivace02:20
• 4Fantasia in D Major, TWV 40:27: II. Andante02:44
• 5Fantasia in D Major, TWV 40:27: III. Vivace (Da capo)02:30
• 6Fantasia in D Major, TWV 40:27: IV. Presto01:43
• 7Fantasia in E Minor, TWV 40:28: I. Largo02:35
• 8Fantasia in E Minor, TWV 40:28: II. Presto01:35
• 9Fantasia in E Minor, TWV 40:28: III. Vivace01:15
• 10Fantasia in F Major, TWV 40:29: I. Vivace04:14
• 11Fantasia in F Major, TWV 40:29: II. Grave00:46
• 12Fantasia in F Major, TWV 40:29: III. Allegro01:28
• 13Fantasia in B-Flat Major, TWV 40:30: I. Allegro02:22
• 14Fantasia in B-Flat Major, TWV 40:30: II. Largo01:31
• 15Fantasia in B-Flat Major, TWV 40:30: III. Allegro01:14
• 16Fantasia in G Major, TWV 40:31: I. Scherzando02:37
• 17Fantasia in G Major, TWV 40:31: II. Dolce04:05
• 18Fantasia in G Major, TWV 40:31: III. Spirituoso01:02
• 19Fantasia in G Minor, TWV 40:32: I. Andante04:53
• 20Fantasia in G Minor, TWV 40:32: II. Vivace01:17
• 21Fantasia in G Minor, TWV 40:32: III. Allegro01:54
• 22Fantasia in A Major, TWV 40:33: I. Allegro02:02
• 23Fantasia in A Major, TWV 40:33: II. Grave03:42
• 24Fantasia in A Major, TWV 40:33: III. Vivace01:52
• 25Fantasia in C Major, TWV 40:34: I. Presto01:56
• 26Fantasia in C Major, TWV 40:34: II. Grave04:28
• 27Fantasia in C Major, TWV 40:34: III. Allegro01:31
• 28Fantasia in E Major, TWV 40:35: I. Dolce - Allegro - Dolce - Allegro04:47
• 29Fantasia in E Major, TWV 40:35: II. Siciliana02:36
• 30Fantasia in E Major, TWV 40:35: III. Scherzando02:09
• 31Fantasia in D Minor, TWV 40:36: I. Allegro02:01
• 32Fantasia in D Minor, TWV 40:36: II. Grave02:46
• 33Fantasia in D Minor, TWV 40:36: III. Allegro01:54
• 34Fantasia in E-Flat Major, TWV 40:37: I. Andante04:34
• 35Fantasia in E-Flat Major, TWV 40:37: II. Allegro02:09
• 36Fantasia in E-Flat Major, TWV 40:37: III. Vivace02:12
• 37Viola da gamba Sonata in D Major, TWV 40:1: I. Andante03:08
• 38Viola da gamba Sonata in D Major, TWV 40:1: II. Vivace01:39
• 39Viola da gamba Sonata in D Major, TWV 40:1: III. Recitative01:27
• 40Viola da gamba Sonata in D Major, TWV 40:1: IV. Arioso. Andante01:59
• 41Viola da gamba Sonata in D Major, TWV 40:1: V. Vivace02:41
• Total Runtime01:38:48

Info for Telemann: Fantasias for Viola da gamba

With his new recording of Telemann’s Fantasias Paolo Pandolfo is continuing to take the viola da gamba in directions little chartered previously. After his Kind of Satie release, Pandolfo once again demonstrates his musical versatility – whether he is drawing from the within the established gamba repertory or from beyond it. Here, Pandolfo delves into the astonishingly prolific instrumental output of Georg Philipp Telemann, a composer so well-versed in the musical diversity of his time that he was more than capable of writing for instruments of which he was not a master. Such was the case when Telemann was writing various sets of Fantasias for solo instruments, and tapping into the demand coming from the burgeoning amateur market in Hamburg. One of these sets of 12 unaccompanied Fantasias – for the viola da gamba – was known to have been composed around 1735 but had been lost until very recently and it is only now that modern-day players are exploring Telemann’s approach to a revitalized genre but on what – by the 1730s – was becoming an increasingly outmoded instrument. From fugal writing to the galant idiom and different reflections of the French and Italian styles, Telemann packs a great deal of variety into these typically three-movement Fantasias. Paolo Pandolfo, who contributes an incisive performer’s note in the booklet, additionally records the 1728 D major Sonata from Der getreue Music- Meister, the only other work for the viola da gamba known by Telemann, whilst Peter Wollny reflects on Telemann’s compositional development in his own essay.

Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba

Paolo Pandolfo
Widely admired as a virtuoso exponent of the viola da gamba through his concert performances and recordings of key composers from Germany, France, Spain, England and his native Italy, Paolo Pandolfo has in recent years been developing the instincts and skills for improvising and composing. He began his research in the field of renaissance and baroque musical idioms around 1979 along with violinist Enrico Gatti and harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini. Studies with Jordi Savall at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland were followed by membership of Savall’s Hespèrion XX between 1982 and 1990. A highly successful recording of the CPE Bach Sonatas for viola da gamba (on Tactus) in 1990 saw Pandolfo nominated as Professor of viola da gamba at his alma mater, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, where he has been concentrating his teaching activities ever since.

Since 1997 all of Paolo Pandolfo’s recordings have appeared on Glossa. The odyssey commenced with the first complete recording of Antoine Forqueray’s Pièces de Viole, followed by discs devoted to the music of Tobias Hume, Marin Marais (Le Labyrinthe et autres histoires was devoted to character music whilst Grand Ballet focused on Marais’ gestures and dance music) and Sainte-Colombe. Pandolfo has regularly ventured beyond the realms of Renaissance and Baroque notated music for his instrument; he achieved a notable success with his own transcription of the six Bach Solo Suites and recorded an unaccompanied recital, A Solo. Travel Notes and Improvisando have further demonstrated Pandolfo’s command of the possibilities of the viola da gamba as a composer himself.

His performing activities have taken him all over the world, playing with artists such as Emma Kirkby, Rolf Lislevand, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Mitzi Meyerson, José Miguel Moreno and many others. He has been described as the Yo Yo Ma of the viol. Since 1992 he has been directing Labyrinto, a group of four or five viola da gambas, which is dedicated to the huge consort music repertoire.

Paolo Pandolfo builds bridges between the past and the present, bringing spontaneous and immediate life in the performance of baroque and renaissance music using medias such as improvisation, transcriptions and composition of modern pieces, being convinced that the patrimony of ancient music can be a powerful inspiration for the future of the western musical tradition.

Booklet for Telemann: Fantasias for Viola da gamba