Brecon Baroque olv. Rachel Podger

With his 1733 'Musique de Table' Telemann wanted to prove once and for all that he was Germany's greatest composer. It was a masterly collection, a display of his virtuosity with its wide range of genres and huge variety of instrument combinations. It is a large-scale cycle in three parts, each of which is composed according to a fixed pattern. Each part is an appetising example of the composer's skill and fertile imagination. On the programme is the celebratory second part: the trumpets and oboes in the overture and conclusion transport us to the French court, the sonatas to Italy and the concerto for three violins to the neighbouring country of Bach's Brandenburg. This colourful, varied music is extremely familiar terrain for Rachel Podger: she has made an acclaimed recording of the Fantasies for solo violin, and during her last - much praised - visit to deSingel also served up the Concerto. Playfully but precisely, she leads her elite group through the repertoire, ensuring that the music sounds exactly as it was intended to sound: like a demonstration of musical finesse and virtuosity.