I think the Bach cantata we did [Ich habe genug, BWV82a] works wonderfully well like this, because you have these sinewy, strand-like lines for the strings. And, of course, it is a very intimate work, pure chamber music in fact. I’m sure Bach envisaged it with single strings, because otherwise the strings would have to play so softly if they were not to overpower the flute, which would happen with even as strong a flautist as Rachel Brown. Conversely, I have to confess that with something like the Vivaldi Laudate pueri [RV601], I do miss the strength of the orchestra, with its colours and potential for greater dynamic contrast. The writing seems to call for fuller forces, particularly in something like the ‘sunrise’ movement [‘A solis ortis’]. And the moment you see violins in unison, you know it can’t mean single strings, because two violins playing in unison invariably makes for a very unsatisfactory sound. My rule in life is that you have a section of either one violin or four violins. Even three can sound slightly scrawny, but the moment you get to four they mesh and it works. That’s not a historical observation, but a purely practical one based on twenty-four years worth of experience.

You also gave us a reminder, if such be needed, of just how extraordinarily inventive a composer Telemann is. That Suite in D which was unfamiliar to me, is just brimming over with ideas.

Yes, Telemann’s music is always highly inventive. What you have to do, as you heard last night, is take the music by the scruff of the neck and do quite a lot to it. If you just play the notes it can come across as slightly bland; there are a lot of folk music influences, which need playing up. Provided you understand this background, you can then turn it into a really exciting piece. It’s full of good things and has become one of our party pieces, so I’m afraid we do tend to make it increasingly extreme.

But I don’t think you’ve recorded it?

No, we haven’t. The poor old world of recording is certainly not what it used to be, even five years ago. I fear that if we put out a disc of Telemann suites now, it would not get its money back, let alone generate any profit. The boom in recording, which was quite astonishing, is over. It’s not for want of people out there who will buy recordings, but simply that there is a glut, so many companies being operated from people’s front rooms, people’s back yards. There is too much product and the public can no longer find it, so sales are there, but if they’re spread across hundreds of records the end result is that everyone defeats everyone else.

Don’t you find that having a good website with easy purchasing facilities, such as the King’s Consort has (www.tkcworld. com), helps with sales?

It helps, but only in terms of hundreds, rather than thousands of sales. And unless you’re manufacturing CDs in your front room, you’ve got to sell thousands, not hundreds. It doesn’t apply to us, but I know of period instrument groups whose sales can be counted literally in the hundreds. That’s a crazy situation. We’re fortunate in still being among the higher selling artists, but even so there are now limits to the projects we are able to undertake if they’re going to take fifteen years to recover their costs. Even for a company as wonderful as Hyperion, that’s sadly not a long-term possibility. My huge regret is that our ‘Bach’s Contemporaries’ series is now on hold. Although sales were way above average for Classical discs, it simply wasn’t covering costs. The irony is that I think the Knüpfer [CDA67160] and Schelle [CDA67260] discs are two of the best we’ve ever made. Curiously, they are the discs from which we get more come back from the public than any other we’ve made. It’s very sad that marketing is simply not sophisticated enough to be able to put across that this is great and important music, because without these composers there would have been no Bach. Our disc of Zelenka [CDA67350], who unlike the others is a true Bach contemporary, has also excited real enthusiasm from everyone who has heard it, but regrettably sales have not been sufficient to be able to say ‘OK, let’s do Zelenka II’. It’s frustrating, because I’ve got piles of music waiting upstairs, but I quite understand Hyperion’s position. I don’t want them making 50 records with duff sales and then disappearing. We need Hyperion to thrive. And what is great is that Hyperion is surviving, unlike some of the bigger companies, who are all but disappearing from the scene.