What’s on my iPod?

Well, because it’s one of those 80 gigabyte models, I was able to load a decent chunk of my classical music library on the thing. It’s only a small portion of the CDs I have amassed over the years, but it’s broad in scope and includes works by many early music composers such as Monteverdi, Rameau, Dowland, Purcell, Gabrieli, Vivaldi, Schütz – and enough by Bach and Handel to sink a battleship.

But – there is not a single piece by Telemann. Or Couperin. I like both composers, but usually I just cannot, as they say, get into them.

All that may change now that I have heard Musica ad Rhenum. I was smitten by several of the works I heard last night during a San Diego Early Music Society program at Saint James by-the-Sea in La Jolla: “The Apotheosis of Beauty: Chamber works by Telemann and Francois Couperin.”

Musica ad Rhenum features one whiz of a flauto travero-ist in the form of Jed Wentz, who plays that wooden instrument (the flauto traverso) like nobody’s business. He’s the James Galway of the early music set. In fact, he tends to draw one’s attention away from the other players slightly – but almost all had their separate moments in the sun.

For instance, Michael Borgstede, a fine artist who plays a harpsichord painted like an 18th century tourist brochure, offered up an elegant solo performance of the Vignt-Cinquiéme Ordre from Quatrième Livre de pieces de Clavecin (Paris, 1730) . The movements all have programmatic titles in French: La Visionaire, La Misterieuse, La Moflambert, La Muse Victorieuse, Les Ombres Errantes.

That last title means “Wandering Shadows,” but it was difficult to visualize any of the suggested pictures, even though Wentz had offered us English translations in some spoken comments before the first half of the concert. Also, because Couperin’s music is so very, very heavily ornamented, one quite frankly needs to be somewhat experienced in listening to such stuff to follow the main thematic lines. Nonetheless, Borgstede plugged away in a refined fashion and made a polished, expert statement of the musical facts.

Two other ensemble members, viola da gamba player Cassandra Luckhardt and violoncellist Job ter Haar, made an appearance in a duet: the 12ième Concert from Les Goûts-Rénuis (Paris, 1724) by Couperin. It consisted of four brief movements entitled Pointé-coulé, Badinage, Lentement et patetitiquement and Air. The chief interest here, beside the excellence of the players, was the intriguing sonic mix and contrast of timbres in two instruments that look vaguely alike, although the viola da gamba has seven strings to the cello’s four.

Baroque violinist Igor Rubhadze did not play alone or in a duo, but he contributed mightily to the three most interesting large ensemble works on the bill. Try twittering these titles to your indispensable friends who need to know every move you make: Telemann’s Troisième Quatour in G major from Nouveaux Quatours en six suites (Paris, 1738) and the Suite in b minor from Nouveaux Quatours en six suites (Paris, 1738). These pieces display incredible wit and charm, are consistently inventive, and even contain some delightful surprises – especially the sudden modulations in a Polish dance in the G major work. These pieces are both well worth hunting down and adding to one’s collection.

Not to forget Couperin’s fascinating tribute to Corelli, one of the most respected composers of the time. This piece, “Le Parnasse ou l’Apothéose de Corelli” (Paris, 1724), paints an elaborate allegory of Corelli climbing Parnassus to be greeted by Apollo and the Muses, then drinking from a sacred stream, receiving a divine afflatus, then falling asleep and awaking to find his proper place among the Gods of Music. I could definitely hear the sacred waters, but the rest was, as Wentz had warned, more “intellectual” than along the lines of romantic scene painting,

Musica ad Rhenum has a large discography, and some Couperin CD sets – the complete harpsichord works and the complete chamber music -- are said to be best sellers. For one with any interest in Telemann or Couperin, Musica ad Rhenum would seem to be the way to go.

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Musica ad Rhenum

The Apotheosis of Beauty": Chamber works by Telemann and Francois Couperin

Jed Wentz • flauto traverso

Igor Rubhadze • Baroque violin

Cassandra Luckhardt • viola da gamba

Job ter Haar • violoncello

Michael Borgstede • harpsichord

Program

Concerto in D major from Quadri (Hamburg, 1730) by Georg Philipp Telemann

Allegro

Andante

Vivace

Vignt-Cinquiéme Ordre from Quatrième Livre de pieces de Clavecin (Paris, 1730) by Francois Couperin

La Visionaire

La Misterieuse

La Moflambert

La Muse Victorieuse

Les Ombres Errantes

Troisième Quatour in G major from Nouveaux Quatours en six suites (Paris, 1738) by G. P. Telemann

Prélude

Légèrement

Gracieusement

Vîte

Modéré

Gai

Lentement-Vîte-Lentement-Vîte

Le Parnasse ou l’Apothéose de Corelli (Paris, 1724) by F. Couperin

Corelli au pied du Parnasse

Corelli charmé de la bonne reception

Corelli bouvant a la source

Enthouziasme de Corelli

Corelli après son enthouziasme Les Muses reveillent Corelli

Remerciement de Corelli

12ième Concert from Les Goûts-Rénuis (Paris, 1724) by F. Couperin

Pointé-coulé

Badinage

Lentement et patetitiquement

Air

Suite in b minor from Nouveaux Quatours en six suites (Paris, 1738) by G. P. Telemann

Prélude

Coulant

Gai

Vite

Triste

Menuet

View program in PDF format

http://www.sdems.org/2009-10-Program-MaR.pdf