Luigi Boccherini occupies a special place in cellists' hearts: he must have been a phenomenal player, and, happily, he was also a composer. His exceptional knowledge of the technical possibilities of the cello helped him create a completely knew sound-palette This is particularly evident in his chamber music, with its splendid vocalic lines, often revealing an undertone of melancholy, combined with impressive virtuosity, and with a wink or a smile appearing now and then from under the surface. The settings are very varied: not only calling for two celli, but also for two violas, and for a wide variety of solo instruments with string quartet: violin, oboe and guitar.

Edition Luigi Boccherini: Divertimenti - Oboe Quintets

Boccherini’s guitar quintets are arrangements prepared from material originally used in a cycle of piano quintets, written in Madrid during the final years of the eighteenth century. Although Boccherini received support from then French ambassador Lucien Bonaparte, contemporary reports suggest that the years prior to his death in 1805 were spent in abject poverty. Nevertheless, he remained as musically productive as ever, and the works recorded here are typically fresh and inventive.

This delightful disc presents absolutely first-rate performances of chamber music that deserves to be much better known. There are two reasons that Boccherini's music hasn't worn as well as Haydn's or Mozart's. First, his prevailing mode of gentle graciousness precludes the kind of emotional depth and drama that the two Viennese masters routinely write into their instrumental music. Second (and related to the first point), Boccherini writes marvelously varied expositions--witness the C major (Op. 32 No. 4) quartet's opening Allegro bizzarro--but uneventful developments. In short, his music isn't as well sustained or as purposeful as Haydn's or Mozart's, but it's also not as lengthy or ambitious, so within its given parameters there's some wonderful writing, and the Quartetto Borciani plays these quartets for all they're worth. In particular, they characterize the opening movements with as much gusto as the music can take. Even the initial Allegro comodo of the tepidly genial G minor quartet (Op. 32 No. 5) moves purposefully forward, while the same work's final Capriccio ad libitum captures the players (and the composer) in full fantastic flight. By contrast, slow movements are marvelously sustained and possess a genuinely Italianate singing tone--as in the heavenly and impressively large-scale Adagio from the D major quartet (Op. 32 No. 3). In sum, you won't easily hear a more persuasive case being made for this music, and Naxos' sonics are top-drawer. Come and explore! --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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It may or may not be purely coincidental that this third volume in Naxos’s issue of the complete Boccherini Cello Concertos has been released in the year that marks the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death. Whatever the case, this new recording, featuring an entirely different soloist and orchestra from the previous volumes, should not disappoint collectors of the entire cycle. Raphael Wallfisch proves to be a most stylish and sympathetic performer. He has the necessary technical armoury to cope with the fearsomely difficult writing in each concerto, but also delivers a wonderfully expressive melodic line in the slow movements. Throughout Wallfisch plays his own cadenzas which are free from Romantic bluster and empty virtuosity. The partnership with the Northern Chamber Orchestra works very well, though the reverberant and muddy recording does not always serve the music to its best advantage. While the rather heavy bass line seems apposite for movements such as the Maestoso of the C major Concerto, it appears to undermine the lightness and wit of the rondo finale of the well-known B flat Concerto, and makes some of the slow movements sound more lugubrious than one might have expected. Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5)

-- Erik Levi, BBC Music Magazine

Rarely heard Fandangos combined with known Fandangos. Unique arrangements & improvisation. Unique instrumentation: trombone, recorder, guitar, harpsichord, guitar, percussion. Early music approach to the origins of the popular dance "Fandango"

“One of the most important advantages that the Luxembourg citizen has when abroad is that linguistically and culturally we embrace both the German and the French cultures...This gives a Luxemburger, particularly one active in the arts or the cultural environment, a different outlook and approach,” suggested Luxembourg composer Alexander Müllenbach in an interview. Perhaps it is this different perspective, the quite individual, open approach, that Françoise Groben herself had, a quality that she brought to her performance of German and French compositions for the cello. And it is for that reason that Banque Générale de Luxembourg placed at her disposal an exquisite instrument built by Matteo Goffriller in 1695.

Françoise Groben was born in Luxembourg on December 4, 1965. She received her first lessons in the cello at the age of five at the city’s Conservatoire, studying there with Francine Weber-Deprelle, Jean Join und Georges Mallach. She eventually completed her studies with Boris Pergamenschikov at the Cologne Musikhochschule, graduating in her concert examination, while continuing to attend master classes given by such artists as Daniil Shafran in Moscow or William Pleeth in London, or by the Amadeus Quartet. From 1974 onwards she was a member of the ensemble Les Musiciens founded by her father, Joseph Groben, and was only 15 when she first played in the Youth Orchestra of the European Union, going on to perform under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert von Karajan and Georg Solti. The recordings collected here illustrate the entire spectrum of Françoise Groben’s artistic interests, demonstrating that she was not only a leading soloist but also a gifted and coveted chamber musician who regularly included pieces by Luxembourg composers in her programs and was strongly committed to contemporary female composers.

Raphaël Feye and the Karski Quartet have collaborated on an exhilarating new album, paying a tribute to Luigi Boccherini's string quintets. These selected quintets showcase the composers exceptional ability to craft melodies that are both elegant and emotionally resonant while maintaining a graceful interplay between the instruments. To enhance the recording's excitement, the musicians decided to vary the distribution of the parts, ensuring each piece possesses a unique and distinct character.

The start of a major new series on Brilliant Classics – historically informed accounts of the violin sonatas by a Classical-era master of Rococo charm and invention.

Luigi Boccherini, still in his mid-20s, dedicated his Op. 5 violin sonatas to the Parisian keyboard soloist Mme. Brillon de Jouy. As a result, the keyboard is more than an equal partner with the most showy writing, in the style of the sonatas ‘for piano and violin’ by both Mozart and Beethoven. Boccherini himself thought well enough of these works to draw from them many times throughout his career. Movements from these sonatas appear in reworked guises in other chamber works and symphonies.

The other sonatas here came into being later in Boccherini’s career as arrangements of other works by Boccherini made by publishers eager to capitalise on the fame and industry of a composer renowned throughout Europe for his attractive melodic fluency Several of them are transcriptions of his cello sonatas, though whether the arrangements were made by the composer himself remains a mystery. Other sonatas were skilfully put together from his many string quintets; they made Boccherini’s music accessible to those who could not perform the ensemble works in their original versions. Brilliant Classics has produced the largest ever collection of Boccherini’s works on record with its 37CD edition, which won stunning reviews in the international press. This new set of violin sonatas becomes a vital addition to the Boccherini library of collectors. Each new album by the period-instrument violinist Igor Ruhadze has likewise attracted critical praise, not least in his regular partnership with the Russian-born pianist and harpsichordist Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya. Their recording of F.Geminiani Violin Sonatas op.1 received warm critical praise.

REVIEWS:

The Six Sonatas Op. 5 for harpsichord with violin accompaniment, published in Paris in 1768, constitute the only authentic examples intended by Boccherini for this instrumental combination. The keyboard style, highly idiomatic with its scales, triplets and broken octaves, the pre-Romantic atmosphere of the slow movements as well as the quality of the melodic and rhythmic elements, excited Europe. If Boccherini did not entrust anything else to this instrumental combination, then editors remedied this by generating several transcriptions. It is this unprecedented wealth that Brilliant intends to explore here – other volumes are expected.

The pianoforte of Alexandra Nepomnyaschchaya does not dethrone, in Opus 5, that of Franco Angeleri (Tactus, 1990) who followed the autograph manuscript of Parma in the company of Enrico Gatti. The chiseled refinement like the incisive dynamic of the touch, the expressive restraint of the violin expressed in the two Italians an unequaled feeling and sharing. Among the newcomers, the seduction is more demonstrative, the contrasts more accentuated, the sensuality and the feeling more showy, as in the Allegro maestoso of No. 6 or the Allegro molto of No. 5. Above all, the Andante of No. 4, just whispered by Angeleri and Gatti, gains an indescribable beauty.

The movements of trios, quartets and quintets reduced by Mlle. Le Jeune (Vénier, Paris, 1782) are a happy surprise. The distribution of voices is skillful. The infinite delicacy of the Andante sostenuto of Sonata G 51 is truly worthy of Boccherini. Certainly, the Amoroso of the G 52 and the Allegro con spirito of the G 53 have charm. No repeat being forgotten, some movements seem a little long. Sometimes a simple foil to the pianoforte, Igor Ruhadze takes his revenge in the Six Sonatas for violin and basso continuo (La Chevardière, Paris, 1775). The Sonatas for cello and basso continuo G 20 are the most emblematic of Boccherini. It is magnificent in places (Largo de la no 5) but above all exotic (no 6, after the famous G 4). The violin, with sober and clear diction, is supported by a balanced bass entrusted to the cello continuo and the harpsichord. Looking forward to the sequel!

-- Diapason

Among the motivations of this disc, the most important one is the wish to present the various styles and periods in a clear, simple way, endeavoring to avoid superabundance and the accumulation of crossover deposits that are often heard where it seems that the music of the past cannot be self-sufficient and needs an extra chromatic and rhythmic shove in order to catch the listeners’ attention, inducing them to compare it with the commercial, repetitive entertainment repertoire. In this musical journey between Italy and Spain of the Baroque era, Paolo Rigano on the archlute and baroque guitar and Cinzia Guarino on the harpsichord are interpreting a singular anthology of pieces enriching the playing through the practice of the basso continuo that marked the entire musical period from the Renaissance to the late Baroque.

Luigi Boccherini composed just a single set of sonatas, Op.5, specifically for violin and piano. However, his commercial celebrity and his artistic reputation at the time, as a composer considered in the same breath as Mozart and Haydn, encouraged publishers to commission arrangements of other works. Such arrangements include this set of Sonatas published in London in 1780, made by Thomas Billington but admitted to the catalogue of Boccherini's works as G34-39. Igor Ruhadze and Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya have made the first ever complete recording of this set as a sequel to their 5CD set of Boccherini sonatas (96612) issued by Brilliant Classics in 2023. 'Looking forward to the sequel!' concluded the review in Diapason of that set, after praising the stylish spirit of musicianship and authenticity in the playing of both artists. Compared to their rivals on record, remarked the reviewer, 'the seduction is more demonstrative, the contrasts more accentuated, the sensuality and the feeling more showy.' Today, as Rudolf Rasch's booklet note remarks, we may prefer original works over arranged works; in the 18th century, such a preference was unknown. No one looked down on them. In fact, they made a composer's music accessible for those who could not perform them in their original format. There was hardly a format more accessible for music-making among friends than the violin sonata, in which the piano would take the lion's share of the harmony from the original work, with the principal melody line assigned to the violin. As well as these violin sonatas, Thomas Billington arranged Corelli's concerti grossi for solo keyboard, and composed a good deal of his own music. In these sonatas, he drew from Boccherini's Trios Op.4 and Op.6, Quartets Op.8 and Quintets Op.10. He was in any case emulating the example of Boccherini himself, who made several such arrangements. As always with Boccherini, there is no shortage of attractive melodies and upbeat, galant invention to contrast with the lyrical beauty of the slow movements. - Luigi Boccherini was born in the Italian city of Lucca in Tuscany, on 19 February 1743, the son of Leopoldo Boccherini, a cellist and double-bass player. The young Luigi received his first music lessons from his father and at the Seminario di San Giovanni in Lucca. The cello was to become his instrument. At the age of ten, he was apparently already so advanced that his father sent him to Rome for further studies at the end of 1753, where he possibly remained until 1756. Apart from a brief period in Vienna around 1760, he was in Lucca until he set out to Paris (perhaps the major musical centre of the time) in the spring of 1768. Later that year he would go to Spain, where he would remain for the rest of his life until his death on 28 May 1805. - This new recording is the second volume of the complete violin sonatas, works in which the pianoforte plays a significant role next to the solo violin. - Critical praise for violinist Igor Ruhadze and pianist Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya: 'The early-music world needs more performers like Igor Ruhadze... This is some of the most accomplished historically informed violin playing I have heard in a long time.' Fanfare (Geminiani, 96524). 'Nepomnyashchaya provides a lesson in how one may realize such sonata bass lines. Her accompaniment is varied in texture and detail, balancing right-hand countermelodies with arpeggiated chordal washes of sound and heavy block chords at cadences. Like Ruhadze, she is a consummate specialist in Baroque style and practice.' - 'These musicians make a strong case for the violin-keyboard duo as an artistic medium. 'Strongly recommended for the music itself and for the dedicated, exciting performances.' Fanfare (Locatelli, 94376).

An exciting young Dutch-based ensemble, performing on gut strings, brings flair and historically informed style to four little-known examples of repertoire from the dawn of the string quartet. Founded while it's members were students of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the Butter Quartet gives vibrant historically-informed performance focusing on Classical-era repertoire. Within it's short history, the Quartet has appeared at several important early-music festivals. At the 2019 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition, they were awarded a place in the prestigious EEEMERGING+ professional development scheme for young European ensembles. With this collection of rarely heard 18thcentury quartets from Italy, the Butter Quartet makes a thrilling debut on record. The individuality of each composer is accentuated by their mutual juxtaposition. In their booklet essay for the album, the Quartet members recount combing libraries for early quartets which have been overshadowed by Haydn's mastery of the genre. All of the composers featured in Scintilla were famous violin virtuosi, with the exception of Boccherini who was a cellist. Their work as performers was inseparable from the music they composed. Italian galant music and performers were characterized by gorgeous tone, operatic sensibilities, and elegant ornamentation. An E flat major Quartet by Gaetano Pugnani (1731-1798) retains traces of Baroque grammar to it's phrasing, while a C minor Quartet by Boccherini (1743-1805) is marked by the surges of pathos that belong to the key signature as reinterpreted by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Maddalena Sirmen (1745-1818) wrote six quartets of which No.5 in F major is a remarkably close-woven and reflective work, hardly a display piece in the tradition of her teacher Tartini but touched throughout with the spirit of subtle innovation we associate with Haydn. Finally, the C major Quartet of Felice Giardini (1716- 1796) is distinguished by an unusually rich viola part which may arise from the circumstances of it's composition in London, where the composer played his violin with both the painter Thomas Gainsborough and the Prince of Wales, who became King George IV

The most emblematic work among Boccherini's descriptive music is his quintet with two cellos La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, which 'depicts' a cross-section of the night in Madrid, from the sound of the Ave Maria on the city's church bells to the soldiers' patrol announcing the curfew. In the short time-frame of five movements / episodes, the different souls of the night of Madrid are recalled. This is amplified in his revision of the quintet, extending the final movement through the addition of 11 variations on the theme of the Curfew Patrol. Both versions of the Quintet are presented in this recording, along with the other five that make up Opus 30, designated by Boccherini as an "opera piccola" due to their two-movement structure. In them Boccherini explores various expressive characters, both within the individual movements and in their juxtaposition, exploiting peculiarities of his art such as the skilful use of modulations and harmonic contrasts, the subtle balancing of melody and texture and the emphasizing of rhythm in the characterization of musical ideas. The second set of quintets with two cellos that Boccherini composed, numbered as Op. 31, is designated an "opera grande", featuring compositions in more than two movements. The play of characters that Boccherini develops through these quintets appears overall to be even more multifaceted and nuanced than in his Quintets Op. 30. In these quintets, as in the Musica notturna and indeed other chamber works by Boccherini, the sacred and profane meet in the name of musical pathos, putting to the listener an ethical and existential question, as well as an aesthetical one. It will be up to each of us to find an answer on the basis of our own sensibilities. Other information: - Recorded October 2014, January 2015, January & June 2016, Padua, Italy - Booklet in English contains liner notes by Matteo Giuggioli and a profile of the ensemble - The Italian liner notes are available for download at www. Brilliantclassics. com - The continuation of a highly successful and popular series on Brilliant Classics: the String Quintets by Boccherini (1743-1805)! The String Quintet series, of which 17 CD's have already been issued, brought to light many hidden treasures, masterworks of chamber music in pure Classical Style, brimming with vitality, wit and winning charm. - This new recording presents the String Quintets Op. 30 and 31, of which the Op. 30 No. 6 is the most remarkable: this quintet with two cellos La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid "depicts" a cross-section of the night in Madrid, from the sound of the Ave Maria on the church bells of the city until the passage of the soldiers' patrol announcing the curfew. In five movements-episodes, the different souls of the night of Madrid are recalled: the religious and devout (Ave Maria delle Parrocchie, Rosario) that carefree and goliardic (Minuetto dei ciechi, Passa Calle), and the military one (Ave Maria del Quartiere, Ritirata). In this quintet each musical resource is employed, in an extremely original way. As Boccherini himself notes in the score, the faithful representation from real life is so central in this work, that "everything that does not conform to the rules of composition, must be justified by the truth of the represented thing". - Played by Luigi Puxeddu and I Virtuosi della Rotonda, with Federico Guglielmo, Alessia Pazzaglia, Davide Zaltron and Riccardo Giovine.

The name Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) does not immediately bring to mind such modest works as violin duos, but alongside his large output of trios, quartets and quintets for stringed instruments, Boccherini's oeuvre also features two sets of six pieces for two violins. One set was composed at the beginning of his compositional career, in 1761 - that is, before his 20th birthday - and published some years later, in 1768, in Paris by Louis-Balthazar de La Chevardiere, under the title Six duos pour deux violons, with the opus number 5. Later, the same collection is described by the composer as his Opus 3. And then there is a second, much later collection with arrangements for two violins of other compositions of his originally written for three or five stringed instruments. The latter set was published by Ignace Pleyel in Paris in 1799 - just a few years before his death - under the similar title Six duos pour deux violons, with opus number 46. Unsurprisingly, the two sets are very different in character. Boccherini's Duets Op. 3 all consist of three movements. Five of them begin with a fast movement, in a major key. Then follows a slow movement in a different key, sometimes major, sometimes minor. And, finally, there is most often a minuet, in a characteristic 3/4 time, with a tempo between slow and fast. The first duet in the set, however, follows a different model: it starts with a slow movement, a fast movement follows and finally there is a light-hearted 'Presto'. We know the year of composition of the Duets Op. 3, and we know for sure that they are works by Boccherini. Regarding the Violin Duets Op. 46, however, there are still some question marks. We know that they were published in 1799 by the Parisian publisher Ignace Pleyel, but they are missing from the catalogue compiled by Boccherini himself of his own works. That does not necessarily mean that they are not from his hand. Boccherini regularly arranged his own compositions for other instrumental combinations, and these are systematically missing from his catalogue. And these arrangements are not simply reductions of the original compositions for two violins: in many cases they are thorough re-compositions based on the original material. This last aspect in particular contributes to the assumption that the arranger was Boccherini himself: arrangers who are not the original composer usually leave the structure of the composition intact in their arrangements. In the case of Boccherini's Duets Op. 46, as it were, new compositions were created. Boccherini's violin duets are perhaps not among his best-known compositions. For the Duets Op. 3 one has to go back quite far into the past to find a recording on LP or CD. The Duets Op. 46 have never been recorded on LP or CD. It's high time, then, for a CD featuring these charming and melodious works. Other information: - Recorded October, November & December 2021, Velp, Netherlands - Booklet in English contains liner notes by Rudolf Rasch and profiles of the violinists - The recording of the Opus 3 Duets is based on the critical edition of these works in Volume 29 of the series Luigi Boccherini: Opera Omnia, published in 2007 by Ut Orpheus Edizioni (Bologna) - The Dutch liner notes are available for download at www. Brilliantclassics. com - A much-underrated composer, Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) was one of the leading composers of the late 18th century, a friend and colleague of both Haydn and Mozart, and a formidable cello virtuoso. Although less dramatic than either Haydn or Mozart, his music does have moments of explosive drama that appear all the more effective when bursting fortissimo from an otherwise calm movement. The harmonic shifts are also surprising and used to great effect. His music is sensuous, charming and highly melodious, yet may be passionate and dramatic as well. - This new recording presents the complete Duets for two violins by Boccherini. Originally conceived as study material, these works far transcend this aim, as they are challenging, skillfully written compositions, brimming with good tunes and blazing vitality. - Played by Igor Ruhadze and Daria Gorban, specialized in Baroque repertoire, having recorded the complete works by Locatelli and works by Nardini. Rugadze's recording of the Boccherini violin sonatas on Brilliant Classics received 5 stars in the French Diapason.

The Catalan cellist Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was first to bring to wider notice the works that open this set, J.S. Bach's solo cello suites. Thereafter we hear his celebrated partnership with Horszowski in Beethoven and the groundbreaking piano trio formed with Thibaud and Cortot in Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. From the symphonic repertoire come the concertos by Dvořák (with George Szell) and Elgar (Adrian Boult). Finally, an enchanting disc of encores and - with Casals's own street-band or cobla - seven examples of the sardana, the national dance of the great artist's beloved homeland.

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This is a winner of a disc, the first of a projected series covering all 12 of Boccherini’s cello concertos, beautifully performed on modern instruments but with concern for period practice and superbly recorded. One minor snag is a confusion over numbering. Naxos calls its first selection of works Nos. 1-4, whereas in Gramophone and on the Gramophone Database the new numbering above is used. What many collectors will be concerned about is the Boccherini Cello Concerto beloved of generations in Grutzmacher’s corrupt edition.

When many years ago I questioned Jacqueline du Pre about choosing it for her recording, she promptly justified herself, saying, ‘But the slow movement is so lovely.’ She was quite right, as her classic recording makes clear (EMI, 10/67), but that movement was transferred from another work, in fact No. 7 in G, one of the four works here. Tim Hugh’s dedicated account of this lovely G minor movement is a high spot of this issue, with rapt, hushed playing not just from the soloist but also from the excellent Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Anthony Halstead. It develops into a long cadenza, a sustained meditation lasting almost two minutes out of the six-and-a-half, and I should have liked to have it identified in the notes.

As it is, Hugh offers substantial cadenzas not just in the first movements of each work, but in slow movements and finales too, though none is as extended as the one in the G minor slow movement. Halstead, as a period specialist and a horn virtuoso as well as a conductor, matches his soloist in the dedication of these performances, clarifying textures (not least in the ripe horn parts, presumably played on natural instruments) and encouraging Hugh to choose speeds on the fast side, with easily flowing slow movements and outer movements which test the soloist’s virtuosity to the very limit, without sounding breathless.

The formula in all four works is similar, even though each has its individual delights, with strong, foursquare first movements, slow movements that sound rather Handelian and galloping finales in triple time. Not just for those who know only the old Grutzmacher concerto, all this will be a delightful discovery. And remember, there are two more issues to come.

-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [10/1999]