Concerto for two chalumeaux

Despite his feelings that the orchestral overture was superior in form, Telemann composed numerous concertos for one or more solo instruments and strings. These concerti contain Italian and French elements and typically are structured in four movements rather than the three, as would be typical to Vivaldi’s concerti. Four-movement form with interchanging slow and fast movements is a derivation from Baroque’s Sonata da Chiesa (Church Sonata) genre. Rarely heard today, the chalumeau is a French single reed instrument that is the direct precursor to the clarinet (which, paradoxically, was constructed by a German maker, Denner). Concerto in D minor is full of sighing figures, chromaticisms and masterful exploration of the limited range of these charming instruments.

(c) Jason Stell and Jessica Embach Jankauskas