Search - Luigi Boccherini, La Magnifica Comunita :: Boccherini: String Quintets Vol.3

More of a "seasoned" rococo with some wonderful parts in it.

N. Cook | 05/14/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album opens with galiantry typical of the rococo era, though the medium of the cello quintet grounds the sound so that it doesn't fly off into pure lightness. There is a bit more seasoning in Boccherini's sound than in the previous album in the series as well as some more introspection.



The third quintet is a fascinating bit of work, though I think this particular recording of it suffers a bit on the outer movements compared with the gusto of the Quintetto Boccherini on the Ensayo label. Here they are played slowly and I think they sound much better at a faster tempo.



The fourth quintet takes the cake for me. From its very opening bars the cellos spin a mystery around you, the violins and viola joining in to bring the mystery up a promising hillside on which you think all will resolve and perhaps it does, until the recapitualtaion. Very exquisite like a dark chocolate because of the prominance of the cellos. The Andante takes you down a slow, peaceful river which ends with a wonderful fugue that brings back the rich darkness of the opening. This is just a plain great piece of music! La Magnifica Comunita does a superb job conveying it and I really have only praise for how they've pulled it off here. Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is a cello quintet if there ever was one!



The fifth quintet greets you with a very relaxing Andantino which leads to a wonderful Allegro with has a vibrant-but-not-over-the-top energy to it. The real party comes with the next movement.



Finally, the E Major quintet has a wonderful calm vibrance to its opening movement that is gorgeously sweet as it goes along. The middle Allegro is quite nice and sunny, followed by a slower movement, giving this the opposite structure of the usual "fast-slow-fast" structure for a chamber work.



Overall this is a good album with a few great parts to it, specifically the third and fourth quintets and the opening of the sixth. Four stars sounds right."