The illustrious list comprised crowned heads, noblewomen, and merchants as well as German and non-German musicians and composers — among others George Frideric Handel from London, Johann Georg Pisendel and Johann Joachim Quantz from Dresden and Michel Blavet from Paris.

Telemann, who was music director of Hamburg at the time of publication, wrote: Diß Werk wird hoffentlich mir einst zum Ruhm gedeien,Du aber wirst den Wehrt zu keiner Zeit bereuen ...

With overture, concert, trio and solo sonata and the — in Baroque times — rare quartet, each part offers an example of the most important instrumental genres.

The critics stated: "Much of Telemann's finest music is contained in this specially priced 4-CD set of his Tafelmusik, a collection encompassing the forms of the late Baroque: French overture and dance suite, quartet, concerto, trio, and solo sonata.

Reinhard Goebel, a champion of this composer, and his Musica Antiqua Köln offer these outstanding performances of precision and clarity with dazzling virtuosity".