With its new recording of the Paris Quartets, the Barockin' ensemble, which has been in existence for 15 years, draws inspiration from Telemann's inexhaustible esprit. The new complete recording on three CDs sounds astonishingly modern: a powerful interpretation bursting with vitality – no matter where you put the blade, fresh musical juice spurts out. Paris, winter 1737 – 57-year-old Hamburg cantor Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) is experiencing the hype of his life.

Following the success of his first ‘Quatuors’ (1730), the six ‘Nouveaux Quatuors’ (1738) hit like a bomb – far beyond the music scene of Versailles, throughout Europe. ‘...whereupon 400 copies were prepaid in a few weeks, which had never happened before with sheet music,’ the composer proudly noted in his autobiography.

This cycle is undoubtedly one of the most important chamber music works of the High Baroque. The fixed instrumentation of flauto traverso, violin, viola da gamba and basso continuo created a completely new variety of sound that is still considered a benchmark today.