Marking the 30th year of Salut! Baroque, a thoughtfully curated program of 11 works by George Philipp Telemann and his contemporaries is delivered with sensitivity, drama, humour and aplomb by 10 expert performers on period instruments.

The chamber music of Telemann might have disappeared into historical obscurity if not for the historically informed performance movement, beginning in the 1960s. Yet, in his lifetime his popularity equalled and even eclipsed that of his friends and contemporaries, J.S. Bach and Handel.

While his choral works and compositions for solo voice have perhaps not endured as strongly, one thing he did brilliantly was write lots of great music showcasing woodwind, especially the recorder family.

The evening is even light-heartedly hosted by Telemann himself, reincarnated in the hands of narrator and tenor Colin Milner, who links the stories of Telemann and the other featured composers in an informative and highly entertaining way.

Salut! Baroque (Colin Milner, left). Photo supplied

The acoustic of the Wesley Uniting Church tends to flatten higher-frequency string sounds, and the draughty winter atmosphere seems to send the cello and double bass a little out of tune during the opening two pieces by...