Search - Luigi Boccherini, Sebastian Benda :: Boccherini: Cello Sonatas, Vol. 1

DELIGHTFUL DISTRACTIONS

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 12/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Boccherini [1743-1805] certainly was an inexhaustible talent--- with some four hundred and sixty known compositions to his credit (chamber music, concerti, symphonies and choral works, et. al.--- is there anything the man couldn't write?), amongst same the approximately thirty-four extant sonatas for cello and basso continuo, five of which are recorded here as Volume 1 in yet another Naxos "completist" project that, luckily, bodes quite well indeed. Although scarcely profound, these lightweight sonatas are more than simply pleasing fare, due no doubt to the entirely sympathetic ensemble collaboration, to the unique and colorful addition of the fortepiano, and to the exceptionally realistic sound. With plucky opening allegros, sensitively paced slow central movements, and diverting, imaginative finales, the Benda brothers elevate these works considerably above routine. Christian's cello is warm, full-throated and expressive; Sebastian's fortepiano, always rich, always attractive, complements each sonata by sustaining its totality in a most surprisingly satisfying manner. This is highly enjoyable music, and a most agreeable production--- made more so by the obvious affection these musicians have for the composer.



[Running time: 71:12]"

This is delightful

Amanda Peck | Waynesboro | 05/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Good music to drive to--even singing along in spots, since I've played it so much.



"

The Cellist and the King of Prussia

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 11/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Around 1785, Luigi Boccherini's long-time patron Don Luis, the younger brother of the King of Spain, died. Boccherini entered the service of the Osuna family in Madrid; that name should be familiar to museum-goers, since the Osunas also patronized Boccherini's close painter friend, Francisco Goya. Shortly thereafter, Boccherini became "court composer" to Friedrich Wilhelm, the new King of Prussia. Just as his uncle Fred the Great had been bonkers about the flute, Friedrich Wilhelm was nuts about the cello. There's no evidence that Boccherini ever visited Prussia, but apparently he sent the musical king a steady stream of compositions for cello. Thirty-four cello sonatas have survived, though musicologists are unable to date most of them. If Friedrich W played the sonatas recorded here, he was certainly no duffer. Boccherini was himself reputed to be the most skillful cellist in Europe, and these sonatas are entirely devoted to taxing any cellist's virtuosity, stretching from furious passagework at the bottom of the instrument's range to ethereal passagework way up to the G-clef notes normally acessible only to violinists. Other virtuosic demands include finger-wrenching double stops, pizzicato and bowed notes interspersed, and exotic timbres generated by bowing with the wood, at the bridge, up the neck, etc. The five sonatas recorded here will convince anyone that the cello has resources well beyond what most composers expect of it.



Meanwhile, the fortepiano trots alongside like a faithful dalmatian. Perhaps Boccherini really wrote these sonatas for himself on cello and for a companion, some who loved music but had no exceptional skill. In any case, the fortepiano player, Sebastian Benda, performs his modest role of accompaniment with aplomb.



I think of Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, creatures of the imagination of novelist Patrick O'Brian, sawing away at the newest Boccherini pieces while the icy gusts of Cape Horn buffeted their stern. Maturin must have had fiery fingers.



As a composer, Boccherini's gift was invention. These sonatas are all mere gallantry and display, but they are very amusing gallantry and witty display. Cellist Christian Benda has the technique to make them sound like child's play - a rich and varied tone, a fine sense of rococo phrasing, and... fiery fingers!"