CPO is pleased to offer an exciting new disc of works by Telemann. The works are from Telemann’s time as Music Director in Hamburg when the city held an annual festive banquet to thank and celebrate the civic guard, positions held by fifty-seven captains who were in charge of all military matters and provided protection to the city.

Of the some thirty Bürgerkapitänsmusiken (Compositions for the Civic Captains) composed by Music Director Telemann between 1723 and his death in 1767, only nine works are extant in full. The allegorical texts refer to the local Hamburg context and they show they are hardly insignificant occasional and commissioned works but oratorios of the highest musical calibre. The oratorio featured on this disc is bursting with musical surprises!

“The Telemannisches Collegium Michaelstein is as taut and well-tuned a baroque ensemble as is available on the world market today. They play with tremendous vigor and with an underlying rhythmic vitality that propels the music forward at a perfect pace… Ludger Rémy proves just what a master he is at discovering and bringing dormant music to life.” MusicWeb