The Donner-Ode was one of Telemann's biggest public successes during his lifetime and is a striking piece in its own right, a vivid reaction to the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. The shock caused to the international community by this dreadful event (in which some 60,000 people were killed) was enormous, and in Hamburg a special day of penitence was the occasion for this 'Thunder Ode', though it does perhaps suggest a rather smug satisfaction that such a disaster didn't befall northern Germany. 'The voice of God makes the proud mountains collapse', the text proclaims, 'Give thanks to Him in His temple!' The music, too, both in its mood and in that extraordinarily up-to-date style of Telemann's later years, frequently conjures the benign, entertainingly songlike pictorial mood of a Haydn Mass or oratorio.
Entertaining is the word, though, especially in this energetic performance under Hermann Max.
He's fleet-footed and buoyantly athletic, benefiting from what's becoming his customary excellent team of German soloists.
For the coupling Max chooses another German work, the cheerful cantata Der Herr istKönig, written much earlier in the composer's life and more Bach-like in character and form (though it's worth pointing out that since it survives partly in Bach's hand, we ought perhaps to conclude that Telemann was the one wielding the influence here). As in the Ode, choir, soloists and orchestra are bright, tightknit and well recorded, making this release an enjoyable one.