The enterprising Hyperion
label have rightly gained a reputation
for unearthing buried treasures. They
have plundered their back catalogue
for these Rossini String Sonatas
originally recorded in 1992 and have
now re-released them as part of their
budget-price Helios line. These recordings
gained considerable critical acclaim
over the years and their return to the
catalogues is welcome. The cover of
the original release identified the
four players as members of The Orchestra
of the Age of Enlightenment. For some
reason that piece of information does
not feature on the Helios cover.
Rossini composed his
six String Sonatas in Ravenna,
Italy during the summer of 1804, amazingly
when he was aged only twelve. At the
time he was staying at the home of amateur
double bass enthusiast Agostini Triossi,
hence the prominent role accorded to
that instrument. At first these youthful
works were scored for two violins, cello
and double bass. They were most likely
categorized as ‘sonate a quattro’;
Rossini’s score clearly labels each
instrument in the singular. Today’s
performances are usually performed by
larger ensemble groups. Each violin
line is typically carried by three performers,
the cello ‘voice’ is duplicated and
a single bass completes the ensemble.
For this recording Hyperion returned
to Rossini’s original, neglected, quartet
arrangement.
The existence of these
early String Sonatas was well
documented from the outset, though for
many years their whereabouts remained
a mystery. Most scholars assumed they
had long since been destroyed. But in
1954, Rossini’s original version turned
up at the Library of Congress in Washington,
USA. It was prefaced by A. Bonaccorsi
and corresponded with an earlier 1942
discovery of five of the works (No.
3 was absent) scored as standard string
quartets and first published in Milan
in 1826 by Ricordi. Alfredo Casella
edited this wartime discovery for publication
in 1951. Today, however, the conventional
string quartet scoring and a further
transposition for winds (flute, clarinet,
bassoon and horn) dated 1828/1829 are
together widely regarded as less than
wholly authentic. Both adaptations seem
likely to be the work of long-forgotten
transcribers.
Rossini’s String
Sonatas were a undoubtedly a prodigious
accomplishment for one so young. They
are Rossini’s earliest recognized compositions
with the sole exception of a single,
negligible song. All six have
a clear and instant appeal, revealing
a child of amazing talent. The disparate
elements of a fully developed musical
genius can be detected within these
genial scores. Today’s musicologists
are quick to point out deficiencies
and weaknesses in the original works.
While doing so they evidently lose sight
of two remarkable facts: Rossini was
not yet a teenager when they were written.
Even more, he had scarcely begun concentrated
musical studies. The extent to which
he was already familiar with the music
of Haydn and Mozart is open to conjecture.
It could hardly have been more than
a limited acquaintance, though in later
life he referred to the latter composer
as "the admiration of my youth,
the desperation of my mature years,
the consolation of my old age."
Whatever Rossini’s earliest influences,
few would argue that, as a twelve-year-old,
Mozart had produced anything of a greater
stature. Mendelssohn reached fourteen
before he completed the agreeable twelve
String Symphonies and it was not until
aged sixteen that he completed the masterworks
the Octet for Strings and the Overture
to A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
works upheld as definitive examples
of early maturity.
The Sonatas embody
the immediacy and fluency that Rossini’s
operas never relinquish. At the same
time they glance back to classical models
of an immediately preceding generation;
techniques common in the music of Simon
Mayr, Pietro Carlo, Valentino Fioravanti
and Ferdinand Paer. As sparkling, melodic,
instantly appealing concert entertainment
the effect is never in question. All
call for an ensemble of striking finesse,
beauty, accuracy and outright virtuosity
and the players here fit the bill perfectly
and display considerable empathy with
these appealing scores.
Each is in a major
key and follows the conventional three-movement
quick-slow-quick format. The
extended opening movements take up half
or more of each sonata’s total duration.
Yet Rossini was not able to display
much in the way of the formal development,
so characteristic in the classically-structured
work of other composers such as Mozart
and Beethoven. The quartet in the opening
andantes offers delightful performances
that are consistently alert and intelligent.
Three of the central
andantes adopt minor keys and
at times their overriding melodic charm
conceals, however briefly, a note somewhat
deeper than most commentators are prepared
to ascribe to so young a composer. The
andante from String Sonata
No. 2 major is a case in point.
In these central movement andantes
the four talented players display
particularly expressive and characterful
interpretations.
Four of the finales
are marked allegro/allegretto.
By comparison Sonata No. 3
is designated moderato, an instructive
title that misleadingly conceals a basic
yet dazzlingly headlong set of variations
with the double-bass taking a brief,
one-off spotlight. The Sonata No.
6 concludes with a finale
entitled ‘Tempesta’, that looks
forward a quarter of a century to the
storm in his opera William Tell.
The quartet provide marvellous accounts
of the finales with playing of
effortless precision and considerable
sparkle.
The engineers have
provided a fine sound quality and the
booklet notes from Howard Smith are
exemplary. A hugely enjoyable recording.
Michael Cookson
Elizabeth Wallfisch, violin; Marshall Marcus,
violin; Richard Tunnicliffe, cello; Chi-Chi-Nwanoko,
double-bass 
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