"After all, on a recorder it is impossible to play more than one tone (chord) at the same time. This creates a sort of musical ‘watermark’ that the performing musician needs to understand in order to be able to perform these skillfully in order to convey the musical message correctly. And that is exactly what Muriel Rochat Rienth does, virtuoso and very well played and that is enjoyment!"
Music Frames, 05-8-2018Telemann was a musician and composer who lived and worked in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, Frankfurt/Main, and Hamburg. He is considered the most important German composer of the late baroque era, and an extraordinarily productive musician with an oeuvre of over 3,600 works which cover all genres, including opera. He was one of the few artists of his era who was well respected during his lifetime, and he was able to live comfortably from his work as a musician. He was entirely self-taught, playing a variety of instruments, including the recorder, the violin, and the harpsichord. He was also a great proponent of the recorder, which is why he (along with Händel) is often described as the greatest recorder composer. His work for the 'flauto dolce' includes solo concerts, suites, sonatas, trio sonatas, as well as extended recorder parts in oratorios, passions, and cantatas. Of special significance are the "12 Fantasias for Solo Flute", published in Hamburg in 1.733, which, along with the "36 Fantasias for Harpsichord", the "12 Fantasias for Solo Violin" (1.753), and the "12 Fantasias for Viola da Gamba" (1.735), complement Telemann's oeuvre for solo instruments without bass accompaniment.
The "12 Fantasias" recorded on this CD are based on a transposition for treble recorder (raised by a third) which is stored in the library of the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Brussels. In the 18th century it was quite common for recorder players to perform their own versions of well-known works. Telemann's "Fantasias" quickly gained in popularity. Johann Joachim Quantz, Frederick the Great's recorder teacher, recommended them as a "prime example of virtuosic flute music".
Georg Philipp Telemann wirkte als Musiker und Komponist in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, Frankfurt / Main und Hamburg. Er gilt als der bedeutendste deutsche Komponist des Spät¬barock und als ausserordentlich produktiver Musiker, mit einem oeuvre von über 3600 Werken, das sämtliche Gattungen (inkl. Opern) abdeckt. Als einer der wenigen Künstler seiner Zeit war er zu Lebzeiten sehr angesehen und konnte von seinem Schaffen gut leben. Als Autodidakt (er beherrschte u.a. Blockflöte, Violine und Cembalo) war er ausserdem ein grosser Verfechter der Blockflöte, weswegen er häufig als „Blockflötenkomponist par excellence“ (neben Händel) bezeichnet wird. Seine Werke für das flauto dolce umfassen Soloconcerti mit Orchester, Suiten, Sonaten, Trio-Sonaten sowie auch ausgedehnte Blockflöten- Partien in Oratorien, Passionen und Kantaten. Eine besondere Stellung nehmen dabei die 1733 in Hamburg herausgegebenen „12 Fantasias“ für Solo- Traversflöte, die neben den 36 Fantasien für Cembalo, den 12 Fantasien für Violine Solo (1753) und den 12 Fantasien für Viola da gamba (1735) das Telemann’sche oeuvre für Soloinstrumente ohne Bass- Begleitung vervollständigen.
Bei den hier aufgenommenen „12 Fantasias“ für Blockflöte handelt es sich um die Transposition für Altblockflöte (um eine kleine Terz erhöht), die in der Brüsseler Bibliothek des Conservatoire Royal de Musique aufbewahrt wird. Es war im 18. Jahrhundert bei Blockflötenspieler durchaus üblich, bekannte Querflöten-Werke in eigener Fassung aufzuführen. Telemanns „Fantasias“ erlangten rasche Berühmtheit; Johann Joachim Quantz, der Flötenlehrer Friedrich des Grossen, empfahl sie als „Musterbeispiel virtuoser Flötenmusik“.
Born in Basle (Switzerland), swiss recorder player Muriel Rochat Rienth, coming from an artistic family (her great-grandfather was the swiss renowned painter Rodolphe Théophile Bosshard), finished her studies at the famous Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (solo diploma) with Michel Piguet. She plays regularly the important recorder concertos by Vivaldi, Sammartini, Telemann with different swiss orchestras and is the director of her own baroque ensemble, La Tempesta Basel, awarded with the swiss ORPHEUS-prize. Recent concerts include performances at Zurich Tonhalle, Concerts de Saint Germain Geneva, ADMA Fribourg, Basle, Festival Sacré de Sion, Société philharmonique de Bienne, Porrentruy, Lausanne and also in Italy (Festival Magnano/Piemont), Belgium, Spain and Austria (Baroque Concerts Graz). She is also active in contemporary recorder music: austrian composer Viktor Fortin wrote and dedicated her a Cantata, premiered by La Tempesta Basel in Lausanne and recorded by Radio Suisse Romande.
Muriel Rochat Rienth produced with La Tempesta Basel two CDs for spanish label Enchiriadis, both highly acclaimed by the international music press: in 2009 the Tenor Cantatas and Recorder Sonatas by J.C. Pepusch and, in 2014, the Tenor Cantatas and Recorder Sonatas by Telemann with her husband, tenor Felix Rienth, elected among the “10 best CDs of the month” by spanish magazine RITMO and described as an "excellent disc" by FANFARE (USA). German magazine "Klassik Heute" comparred Rochat Rienth's playing with the world-famous recorder player Michala Petri. Muriel Rochat Rienths CDs were broadcasted at different radio stations, such as Swiss Radio SRF 2, Radio Suisse Romande, Radio KLARA Brussels (Belgium), Concertzender Hilversum (Holland), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Radio Bremen, NDR Hamburg, Radio SWR Stuttgart, Radio Nacional de España or Radio CKRL (Québec-City) of Canada and ABC Classics (Australia).
In 2015 Muriel Rochat Rienth is presenting her recording of Händel's Complete Recorder Sonatas with harpsichord player Andrés Alberto Gómez, published by spanish label VANITAS, again elected among the "10 best CDs of the month" by magazine RITMO, the most important award of spanish magazine. Spanish National Radio RNE invited her to the official CD-presentation to Madrid. Her Händel-CD was also enthusiastically reviewed by different spanish, german, dutch, italian, swiss and US magazines (FANFARE). Next CD for VANITAS RECORDS include Telemann’s “12 fantasias” for recorder solo, published in 2018, again with enormous critical acclamation. In 2017 she realized her third album with baroque ensemble LA TEMPESTA BASEL and swiss tenor Felix Rienth, featuring an italian baroque programme. For swiss label VDE-GALLO will be published a CD with music of austrian contemporary composer Viktor Fortin. In 2019 Muriel Rochat Rienth will begin the recording of Veracini's Complete Recorder Sonatas for VANITAS.
Muriel Rochat Rienth teaches the recorder at the Conservatoire de Fribourg (Switzerland) and lives in Basle. She plays exclusively recorder instruments made by swiss Ernst Meyer ( † 2016).
After all, on a recorder it is impossible to play more than one tone (chord) at the same time. This creates a sort of musical ‘watermark’ that the performing musician needs to understand in order to be able to perform these skillfully in order to convey the musical message correctly. And that is exactly what Muriel Rochat Rienth does, virtuoso and very well played and that is enjoyment!
Music Frames, 05-8-2018
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