Telemann’s Barbaric Beauty by Holland Baroque with Milos Valent

Welcome to ‘Dodd’s DSD Discoveries’, a review series from NativeDSD Senior Music Reviewer Bill Dodd. This series focuses on Bill’s latest selections, with new reviews regularly.

If you’re not a big fan of Baroque Music, I’ve got the perfect “discovery” for you… Barbaric Beauty!

At least, this is how Telemann described the pieces he wrote after discovering the music played along the Polish-Hungarian border. “If you were to write down all that was played there, after a week you would have enough ideas for the rest of your life.”

And it turns out that these pieces clearly inspired him in works later on.

What I find particularly interesting is the lively nature of some of these pieces. For example, listen to the second track, Les Janissaires. This is exciting, get up and dance music!

From an Audiophile Audition review:

The music-making here seems to me inspired, fully engaged, beautifully adaptable to a language that doesn’t come naturally to classically trained musicians. I confess it took me more than one listening to realize that Telemann’s music is much more than a cultured imitation of what he had heard in Eastern Europe. But then this is a disc you’ll want to listen to, and learn from, repeatedly.

I agree!