Il Gardellino . Marcel Ponseele

Throughout his career, the oboist Marcel Ponseele has played Bach's cantatas with love, always under the baton of the great masters of the day. But he had never had the time to tackle them himself. Il Gardellino's series of CDs and concerts under the title 'Testimonia' have fortunately changed all that: this oboist now offers his vision of Bach's immortal music five times, together with friends and in an almost domestic setting. The last part of the series, 'Der Tod', should not be seen as a conclusion. In the late baroque period, death was not so much associated with sorrow as with ultimate deliverance. The selected cantatas reflect this hopeful attitude with eyes firmly directed to heaven and its glories. In both cantatas the oboe of course plays a comforting principal part. The musicians of Il Gardellino are guides to the kingdom of heaven, and their mastery of the baroque repertoire is the perfect counterpart to the excellence of the master and pupil of Leipzig. It was indeed shortly after flourishing during his studies in Leipzig that Telemann wrote his funeral cantata 'Du aber Daniel, gehe hin'. This superb programme is rounded off with dazzling instrumental concertos for several soloists, strings and basso continuo.