Pretty overall with substance sprinkled throughout.
Nathan P. Cook | 11/08/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the 4th in a continuing series of Boccherini's cello quintets. His quintets are unique in music history not just because of the orchestration (string quartet + an extra cello that often is sent into the viola and violin's range) but because it is here more than anywhere else that he fully pulls back the curtains on his own musical personality and ideas. He is a classical composer to be sure, but his view of music was not at all that of Mozart and Haydn. Perhaps this is best explained by saying that if all the greats (Bach, Teleman, Corelli, Tartini, Hadyn, etcetera) were in a room discussing counterpoint, Boccherini would be the guy over in the corner, looking out the window at the shapes in the clouds. That is to say that if you expect him to have the same musical ideas as the rest of the greats, you will be perplexed. However, if you clean the slate and just let him be himself, you're in for a beautiful ride.
The first quintet is in c minor and Boccherini makes wonderful use of its key. It opens in the shadows with a sprinkling of agitation which is used to push the music into the sunshine, though it soon finishes its course there and returns to the shadows, though these shadows are melancholy rather than forlorn. Its best movement is its last which hits you like sudden hard spatters of rain on your windshield in its wonderful agitation. This doesn't last long, however, and the music soon turns charming, going on to oscillate between rough and gentle. Now I must say that Boccherini was never really able to ride agitation all through the length of a piece and I fault him for that, but the results here may be okay without that - you be the judge.
The adagio of the second quintet is quite a gem. It is gentle and beautiful in its melancholy as Boccherini always is. The mood clears up with an optimistic minuetto and a pretty allegro, but overall this work is little more than pretty.
Regal warmth is the fabric of the third quintet as its opening allegro starts with a romp and a texture that is reminiscent of hunting horns. This is a more complex piece that takes you much further than its two predecessors. It is here that you can hear the second cello reaching out of its normal range (it sounds different than a viola/violin in its higher registers so if you listen you can tell it apart pretty easily).
Building off of the third, the fourth quintet begins to make this opus into something substantial. The opening allegro is quite beautiful, graceful, inventive and really very well done. Remember those cloud shapes? You'll find them in the largo.
The fifth quintet starts off a bit more troubled in mood than its friends, though it soon joins their warm spirits only to decide it is better off in its trouble. All ends well though as its crossness crafts it into something noble.
The sixth piece is much more shy than its friends, though, like its composer, it has great beauty in its shyness.
Overall this is an interesting listen with charm throughout and an equal mixture of things that are "pretty-and-nothing-more" and things that have some substance and bite to them. La Magnifica does a superb job playing and the recording is clean throughout."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1