Florilegium’s discography of baroque chamber (and small-scale vocal) music is already extensive, exploring the byways in preference to the highways. It includes a disc devoted to Telemann’s Tafelmusik (some of the finest ever written “on subscription”, intended for accomplished and wealthy musical amateurs), and one to Bach cantatas. Here the juxtaposition of Telemann and Bach — giants of the German baroque who applied for the St Thomas cantor’s job in Leipzig in 1722-23 — works well as a “concert” programme, substantial orchestral works by each composer framing a delightful performance by Lucy Crowe of Bach’s enigmatic Italian cantata No sa che sia dolore. This is a work of disputed authenticity that may be a pastiche of other composers’ music, but the Bach “fingerprints” — like Handel’s when he raided his colleagues’ ideas — are there for all to hear. The solo flute, exquisitely played by Ashley Solomon, is the linking thread between the cantata, Telemann’s (chamber) Concerto in A (from Part One of the Tafelmusik) and Bach’s Triple Concerto in A minor, in which Solomon’s co-soloists are the virtuoso harpsichordist James Johnstone and the no less brilliant violinist Rodolfo Richter. Ensemble values are paramount in these stylish and committed performances.

Few can match Florilegium’s interpretative flair and technical accomplishment in this repertoire, while Crowe’s brightly gleaming soprano is an ever-improving instrument.

Channel Classics CCSSA27208

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