‘The Chosen One’
Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings
Rowan Pierce, Helen Charlston, Nick Pritchard, Ben Kazez
Milton Court. 16 April 2026
Christoph Graupner: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden
Christian Friedrich Rolle: Es wurden aber auch and Verdammliche Bosheit
Georg Friedrich Kauffmann: O ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen?
Georg Philipp Telemann: Ich muß auf dem Bergen weinen und heulen
Johann Friedrich Fasch: Concerto for Flute and Oboe
Johann Sebastian Bach: Du Wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn
The story behind Bach’s eventual 1723 appointment as Leipzig Thomaskantor is well known, but the details of the appointment process are perhaps less so. This programme aimed to shed a closer light on the appointment process by playing the music that some of the candidates performed during their audition. The post of Thomaskantor consisted of far more than the title implies – its official title was Cantor et Director Musices, which better describes the twin roles. As Cantor, he was responsible for directing the music in Leipzig’s four Lutheran churches: the Thomaskirche, Nikolaikirche, Neue Kirche, and Peterskirche. He also had important responsibilities at the Thomasschule, including selecting pupils, and teaching music and Latin. As the Director Musices, he was the principal musician of Leipzig, with civic responsibilities for providing music for official occasions, together with music for the university, usually at the Paulinerkirche. He reported to the city council, the Thomasschule rector, and the Thomaskirche superintendent, but it was the former who ran the auditions and made the decisions on the appointment.
The annual 
Recorded in 2003, this is presumably a reissue, although I couldn’t anything to confirm that. It is not listed on il Gardellino’s website. Matthessohn seems to have been one of the first to wonder how Telemann managed to compose so much music. This, and the dominance of Bach in the revival of German baroque music, has always been a bit of a problem. The opening Concerto in this CD helps by including several moments that many listeners might recognise. Matthessohn also commented that “Telemann alone is beyond all praise and lauds”, and this CD demonstrates the exceptional quality of his music. Both technically and musically, his compositional skill is self evidence, as is the breadth of his creative imagination. 
One of the most delightful of London’s music venues is Garrick’s Temple to Shakespeare 
Using modern copies of seven different types of historic recorder (blockflöte), Die höfische Blockflöte (The Royal Recorder) explores the link between musical instrument making and the various royal courts of Europe. The recorders range from two different versions of the two mid-17th century Rosenborg soprano recorders, one made in maple, the other (at higher pitch) in the original material, narwhale tusk, both made by Fred Morgan. The originals are to be found amongst the Crown Jewels in the Royal Collection in Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen. It can bee heard in Jacob Van Eyck’s Prins Robberts Masco. 
Jean-Christophe Dijoux was the winner of the harpsichord category of the 2014 Leipzig International Bach Competition, and this CD stems from that success. Born in Réunion, Dijoux studied in Paris, Freiburg and Basel, spent a year touring with the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO), and won awards for continuo playing at the 2013 International Telemann Competition. Using two harpsichords (built by Matthias Kramer of Berlin after 1701 and 1754 originals) and four different temperaments, he explores music with a connection to Hamburg. Both instruments have 16’ stops, adding an impressive gravitas to the sound.
Telemann taught himself to play the recorder, violin and zither before the age of 10, and continued to practice the recorder well into his teens – something very few youngsters do today. He seems to have retained a love for the recorder, judging by the number of pieces he wrote for it, including these Suites and Concertos. Incidentally, the two Suites are both titled Ouverture in their manuscripts, and are examples of Telemann’s so-called concert en ouverture style of composition, which combines elements of the traditional suite with the overture. Apart from the E-flat suite (which is intended for the flute pastorelle, which perhaps means the panpipes), all the music is from the same manuscript surviving in the Hesse Court library in Darmstadt, suggesting that they were composed for Michael Böhm, Telemann’s brother-in-law and a virtuoso woodwind player. They are all written for alto recorder.
Andrew Benson-Wilson : Early Music Reviews + 