MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
Crotchet  AmazonUK   AmazonUS

 

Luigi BOCCHERINI (1743-1805)
Flute Quintets Op. 19
Quintet No. 1 in E flat (G 425) [10:14]
Quintet No. 2 in g minor (G 426) [11:35]
Quintet No. 3 in C (G 427) [14:01]
Quintet No. 4 in D (G 428) [09:53]
Quintet No. 5 in B flat (G 429) [11:31]
Quintet No. 6 in D 'Las Parejas' (G 430) [11:45]
Auser Musici: (Carlo Ipata (transverse flute), Luca Ronconi, Francesco La Bruna (violin), Teresa Ceccato (viola), Luigi Puxeddu (cello))
rec. March-April 2007, Oratorio di S. Domenico, Pisa, Italy. DDD
HYPERION CDA67646 [69:09]
Experience Classicsonline


In the 18th century there were several reasons for composers to write music. Most were at the service of a church or a court, and delivered what was expected of them. But sometimes they wrote music for specific individuals, for instance a musician who was a virtuoso on his instrument. Some composers were virtuosos themselves, and they composed music to play during private or public concerts. Luigi Boccherini's oeuvre reflects all these permutations.
 
Since 1770 he was at the service of Don Luis, Infante of Spain and brother of King Carlos III. He was an avid and apparently accomplished player of the cello which explains the large production of quintets with two cello parts - the first and most demanding cello part to be played by Boccherini himself. In the years 1773 and 1774 Boccherini wrote three collections of chamber music with parts for the transverse flute. It is not known why exactly he did so, but it is very likely there was an accomplished flautist at the Infante's court at the time. The role of the flute is different in these collections. The Divertimenti op. 16, for instance, were called divertimentos for two violins, flute obbligato, viola, two cellos (again!) and double bass (three of these divertimenti have been recorded by Piccolo Concerto Wien - Symphonia SY 01188). In the quintets recorded by Auser Musici the flute plays a more prominent role, but not as much as in most chamber music pieces for flute and strings by Boccherini's contemporaries. Remarkable is the role of the cello: in two movements, the first of the quintets 3 and 4, it plays a very prominent role. In these movements cello and flute are involved in a dialogue which puts the other instruments at the sideline.
 
Five of the six quintets are in two movements, fast - fast, slow (or moderate) - fast or fast - faster. This puts these quintets in the realm of the divertimento: most divertimento-like compositions of the second half of the 18th century were in two movements. This had also a very prosaic reason: pieces like this were relatively cheap and therefore commercially more interesting than longer works. As Marco Mangani writes in the booklet: "As disappointing as it may be to champions of art as a mission, that was the way Boccherini and his contemporaries treated the matter".  The idea of 'l'art pour l'art' (art for art's sake) was still very far away.
 
The fact that these pieces are divertimentos doesn't make them easy to play. As already indicated two of the quintets contain sophisticated cello parts, and there can be hardly any doubt that these were to be played by Boccherini himself. But also in content these quintets are more than just easy-listening stuff. The first movement of the Quintet No. 2 is pretty dramatic, and the opening movements of the Quintets 3 and 4 contain a lot of expression.
 
The last quintets also have something special to offer. The Quintet No. 5 ends with a brilliant and exciting presto assai. The Quintet No. 6 is the only one with three movements, and has a descriptive character, like the famous 'Musica notturna di Madrid'. The title is 'Las Parejas', which means 'the couples'. The first movement is called 'Entrada - Marcia' (entrance - march), the second 'Galope' (gallop), which is followed by a repeat of the first movement. "The title refers to a typical Spanish horse race, in which two horsemen run hand in hand". The way Boccherini has set this scene has almost orchestral traits, and one can only admire the vivid picture he is painting here with music.
 
The players apparently immensely enjoy this piece, as it is played with panache and fantasy. But the other quintets are realised just as well. The flautist Carlo Ipata plays his part with technical assurance and great feeling for the character of the music, sometimes delicate and almost tender, like in the first movement of the fourth quintet, sometimes firm, like in the last movement of Quintet No. 5. The cellist Luigi Puxeddu is excellent in dealing with the intricacy of his part. The ensemble as a whole has provided a very enjoyable recording of these fine quintets which shows how exciting diverting music can be if composed by a master like Luigi Boccherini and played by such an excellent ensemble as Auser Musici.
 
Johan van Veen
 


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.