Georg Philipp Telemann has left to posterity a body of work of an almost bewildering diversity. Hermann Max, the director of the Rheinische Kantorei/Kleines Konzert, presents five previously unknown and unpublished cantatas from Telemann's time in Hamburg and Frankfurt. These have been combined to create a Christmas Oratorio, which covers the holidays from birth to Epiphany – a hypothetical piece to be fair, but there is historical precedent for this and the results heard here speak for themselves. These musical rediscoveries are pure Telemann. Each cantata and as a result the entire oratorio displays a consistently operatic attitude featuring dramatic recitatives, dialogue scenes, arias and choruses. The latter are not limited to their traditional, reflective role but create a lively event, transforming the church into a sublime stage, reaffirming the faith of all those gathered within.