Search - Luigi Boccherini, La Magnifica Comunita :: Boccherini: String Quintets Vol. 7

Bold Brawny Boccherini!

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 12/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First, let's be clear: This is a recording of the six string quintets of Boccherini's Opus 27, published in 1779, and it is volume 7 of the projected recordings of the complete quintets. All six quintets are in TWO movements, a form Boccherini "invented" and called 'opere piccole', not because they were small and frivolous but rather for the musical convenience of skilled performers -- remember that most printed music was sold to amateurs -- with perhaps less ample session time available. These six quintets are as complex and challenging as any of Boccherini's mature works; as he himself said, "they are cut from the same cloth".



And that cloth is "cloth of gold"! Boccherini composed more than a hundred quintets with two cellos, as well as a number using either guitar or double-bass as the fifth instrument. La Magnifica Comunitá is somewhat less than halfway through the project of recording all of them; an optimist or a patient person might well choose to wait until the project is finished and all the CDs are boxed and sold at a bargain price. Me? I'd rather not wait. Life is uncertain, and these performances are too good to defer.



La Magnifica C performs on "original instruments", meaning instruments with gut strings and historical neck construction (lots of Strads and Amatis have had their necks modified in modern times, i hope you realize) and with 18th C bows. If you are a victim of the delusion that historical instruments are less dependable in tuning and less expressive, the playing of La Magnifica C should rescue you from that falsehood. Likewise, there's a persistent myth that Boccherini was a gentle, almost feminine composer, less adventurous than Haydn, less profound than Mozart. To a certain degree, performers have subscribed to that notion and have performed Boccherini with less intensity than Haydn. La Magnifica Comunitá obviously begs to differ; their interpretations are "manly" and massive. They make Boccherini sound less rococo, more robust than his peers, closer in 'affect' to late Mozart and Beethoven than Haydn ever got. If you have the collection to do so, you might compare this performance to recordings of Boccherini by other very fine ensembles - Europa Galante, Ensemble 415, Anner Bylsma, Jordi Savall - to see what different "resonance" different players can coax out of the same music.



This is a superb recording, and the same praise applies to volumes 4, 5, and 6. (I haven't found time to listen to the earlier three volumes.) Boccherini's string quintets should be designated as a World Heritage Site of music."

Nice Title

SB | 12/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
Strakkvintetter?



How about "Boccherini: String Quintets, Vol. 7".



In other words, six string quintets with two cellos, Op. 27, by La Magnifica Comunità for Brilliant Classics; catalog number: 93774.



It should be noted that if every seller included more specific information for each album, such as the label's catalog number, a universal product code, and an international standard recording code, then they would be easier to search for (because the titles are certainly not consistent).



I suppose we'll be lucky to guess what the alias for Volume 8 might be...



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