Georg Pranger
Accompanist: Cornelia Steinschaden-Wogerer
LC Recordings: LC98770

If you search for Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann then his compositions are not hard to find. 

Prolific in output (he wrote over 3,000 works), he was highly regarded by both colleagues and critics alike during his long lifetime (1681-1767), although by the 19th century he was dismissed as a ‘polygraph’ – his complex harmonic and contrapuntal style fading into obscurity against the comparisons to Handel and Bach.

However, by the 1950s his reputation was revived by reappraisal, so much so that he is now regarded as one of the most important compositional links between the late Baroque and early Classical eras.

Contrapuntal balance

Austrian euphonium soloist Georg Pranger seeks inspiration for this engaging recital release by employing a contrapuntal balance of the old and new – “a voltage triangle”  as he calls it between music, soloist and superb accompanist. 

The lucid delicacy of the ‘Sonata for Bassoon and Basso Continuo’  by Francoise Devienne (1759-1803) is immediately set against the playful quirkiness of ‘Hommage a Devienne’  by Gabriel Brambock (1998). Next up comes the elegant architecture of Telemann’s ‘Fantasia Nr.7 in Eb major for Violin’,  framed against the impressionistic effects of Martin Rainer’s (1987) surreal title work.

It's a bit like walking past a display in an art gallery that intersperses Vermeer with Basquiat, Constable next to Warhol – although somewhat frustratingly, without access to guide book notes to help deepen the understanding behind the musical dichotomies.

It's a bit like walking past a display in an art gallery that intersperses Vermeer with Basquiat, Constable next to Warhol – although somewhat frustratingly (despite the visual clue of the striking cover image), without access to guide book notes to help deepen the understanding behind the musical dichotomies.

Undeniable talent

The performance talent however is undeniable; Pranger tempering his considerable technique with an accomplished sense of stylistic nuance, none more so than in the cameo portraiture of ‘La Folia for Viola de Gamba and Continuo’  by Marin Marais (1656-1728) - a theme and 13 variants plus finale of exquisite inventiveness. Martin Robert Patscheider’s (1973) ‘Follia’  is a delightful amuse-bouche mouthful to follow – witty and splendidly waspish. 

The familiar strains of ‘Erinnerung’  lead into the haunting wistfulness of ‘Matter of the heart for euphonium and piano’  to close a release that despite the lack of revealing direction offers so much to the inquisitive listener to find what they are looking for. 

An absorbing quartet of Gustav Mahler and Ivana Radovanovic mirror reflections (1994) draws things to a satisfying conclusion; the touching setting of the text to Tirso de Molina’s ‘Phantasie aus Don Juan’,  seamlessly linked to ‘Deine Rosen an der Brust’  – both played with understated refinement.  

The familiar strains of ‘Erinnerung’  lead into the haunting wistfulness of ‘Matter of the heart for euphonium and piano’  to close a release that despite the lack of revealing direction offers so much to the inquisitive listener to find what they are looking for. 

Iwan Fox 

To purchase: http://www.euphonium.net

Play list:

1. Sonata for Bassoon and Basso Continuo (Francois Devienne; Ed: K. Hubmann)
2. Hommage a Devienne (Gabriel Brambock)

3. Fantasia Nr. 7, for Solo Euphonium from Fantasia Nr.7 (Georg Philipp Telemann; ad. Roland Szentpali)
4. Fantasie for Euphonium Solo ‘Lookin’ for Telemann’ (Martin Rainer)

5. La Folia, for Viola da Gamba and Continuo (Marin Marais; Ed: Philippe Fritsch)
6.  Follia (Martin Robert Patscheider)

7.  Phantasie; aus ‘Don Juan’ von Tirso de Molina ‘Lieder und Gesange’ (Gustav Mahler)
8.  Deine Rosen an der Brust (Ivana Radovanovic)

9.  Erinnerung; aus ‘Lieder und Gesange’ (Gustav Mahler)
10.  Matter of the heart for Euphonium and Piano (Ivana Radovanovic)