Boccherini Digital

Composers from the first half of the eighteenth century typically cast their violin music in the form of a sonata for violin and basso continuo: the violin performing the solo role, the continuo the accompaniment.

Spring 2020: Corona embarks on its world tour of destruction. Musicians may be grounded, but dreams live on, and suddenly there’s time to finally realise one of them: record some of Boccherini’s music with my friends from The Northern Consort.

Ophelie Gaillard is the most musically sensitive and expressive cellist, modern or historical, that I've heard in many years. Her style reminds me of the great Baroque violinist Fabio Biondi.

Ophelie Gaillard is the most musically sensitive and expressive cellist, modern or historical, that I've heard in many years. Her style reminds me of the great Baroque violinist Fabio Biondi.

The most emblematic work among Boccherini’s descriptive music is his quintet with two cellos La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, which ‘depicts’ a cross-section of the night in Madrid, from the sound of the Ave Maria on the city’s church bells to the soldiers’ patrol announcing the curfew. In the short time-frame of five movements / episodes, the different souls of the night of Madrid are recalled.

The most emblematic work among Boccherini’s descriptive music is his quintet with two cellos La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, which ‘depicts’ a cross-section of the night in Madrid, from the sound of the Ave Maria on the city’s church bells to the soldiers’ patrol announcing the curfew. In the short time-frame of five movements / episodes, the different souls of the night of Madrid are recalled.

Boccherini owes his celebrity to more than just the infamous Minuet of the Quintet Op.11 No.5 - although that is included here too. This recording rights the balance with some elan: from the brilliant castanets of the Fandango to the much more Viennese style of the String Quartet, the musicians of the Cuarteto Casals and their guests demonstrate the infinite creative resources of the composer. It culminates in the Night Music of the Streets of Madrid, a vivid example of musical realism in which, as Boccherini put it, ‘the strict rules of counterpoint’ would be out of place!

Why arrange Boccherini concertos? To bring out the colours, rhythms, dances, melodies and countermelodies. To reinvent our roles or to exchange them like a game, from one page to another.

Ludwig van Beethoven left only a few works for the string trio, and, unlike his quartets, they are played far too seldomly. The Trio Boccherini now presents a complete recording of these trios on the GENUIN label to draw attention to this. The program includes Beethoven's first two works in this genre, the Trio op. 3 and the Serenade op. 8.