Telemann : Klingende Geographie. Musica Fiorita, Dolci.

   in Early Music Today (Dec, 2013)
This delightful disc contains the little- known suite of character dances assembled in 1959 by Adolf Hoffmann from various instrumental works by Telemann as a counterpart to his Singende Geographie. Musica Fiorita reconceives Hoffmann’s bland score for strings and continuo imaginatively on instruments ranging from recorders, violins and gamba to baroque guitar, psaltery and loads of percussion.

Through impeccable and spirited playing, the listener is taken on a grand tour that is always entertaining and often laugh-out-loud funny. Afficionados will enjoy recognising national stereotypes: the drones of the English-Irish-Scottish gigue, clacking percussion in the Provencal rigaudon, the poignant treble recorder in the air from Lower Saxony, playful drumrolls in the Hungarian …