Search - Smithsonian Chamber Players :: Boccherini: Quintets Op. 11, Nos. 4-6

From the review in 'Gramophone'

Record Collector | Mons, Belgium | 01/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Boccherini wrote 100 quintets for a standard string quartet with an extra cello, abounding in charm, invention, variety and consummate craftsmanship, and they (particularly the earlier ones) represent easy listening in the best sense; since the recorded stock of these works is less than cornucopian, this addition to it is all the more welcome. The medium itself arose naturally: Boccherini was a cellist and played together with a family string quartet in Madrid, an ensemble that was rewarding enough to stimulate his prolificity. One of the several ways in which his quintets and quartets differ from those of his contemporaries is in their marvellous exploitation of bowed-string techniques, a natural by-product of his own virtuosity, resulting in a unique (in its time) plethora of textures and occasional surprises to the ear when the cello usurps the violin's tessitura.



"The three quintets here comprise the last half of Boccherini's Op. 11, first published in 1775: No. 5 contains the celebrated Minuetto and No. 6 (dello L'ucceleria), is a cyclic work with evocative bird-calls and, in the second movement, sounds of the hunt interspersed with a shepherd's piping. The sombre chromaticism of the Minuetto of No. 4 contrasts with, but is happily complemented by, the tonic-fixated (deceptive) simplicity of its Trio.



"None of the players' names suggests Italian ancestry but the expressiveness and animation of their performances says 'So what?'. They all use Stradivarius instruments, producing clear sounds and textures such as may have been heard when Boccherini played these quintets, and which I enjoin you too to enjoy at this later time."

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