Two sources exist of this fine sonata, one in Darmstadt and the other in Dresden. It falls into the slow-fast-slow-fast pattern for which Telemann showed a preference in his sonatas and, up to a point, in his concertos too. The opening ‘Mesto’ has a wistful character and a seriousness which utterly confounds the all-too-frequently voiced opinion that Telemann was capable only of lightweight utterances. The following Allegro is tightly constructed, with predominantly imitative phrases in the two melody parts.
The Largo is framed by an eight-bar Andante whose affecting language illustrates Telemann’s love of the fugitive, of the indefinable, in a meandering sequence of modulations and suspensions. The finale, a Vivace, is an elementary ‘rondo’ whose initial recurring syncopated figure, presented first by the oboe, determines the dance-like character of this individual movement.
from notes by Nicholas Anderson © 2002
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