BOCCHERINI Stabat mater. Symphony G508
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Luigi Boccherini
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Aparte
Magazine Review Date: 07/2019
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 117
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: AP194
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 6 |
Luigi Boccherini, Composer
Luigi Boccherini, Composer Orphélie Gaillard, Cello Pulcinella Orchestra |
(6) Symphonies, Movement: D minor (La Casa del Diavolo) |
Luigi Boccherini, Composer
Luigi Boccherini, Composer Pulcinella Orchestra |
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 9 |
Luigi Boccherini, Composer
Luigi Boccherini, Composer Orphélie Gaillard, Cello Pulcinella Orchestra |
(6) String Quintets, Movement: No. 6 in C, 'La musica notturna delle strade di Ma4 |
Luigi Boccherini, Composer
Luigi Boccherini, Composer Pulcinella Orchestra |
Stabat Mater |
Luigi Boccherini, Composer
Luigi Boccherini, Composer Pulcinella Orchestra Sandrine Piau, Soprano |
Sonata for Cello and Continuo No. 2 |
Luigi Boccherini, Composer
Luigi Boccherini, Composer Orphélie Gaillard, Cello Pulcinella Orchestra |
Author: Tim Ashley
By her own admission, Gaillard takes liberties in her realisation of this repertory, some of which perhaps are more successful than others. Boccherini’s un-figured basses, not only in the Second Sonata but also in the symphony and concertos, are assigned not to the usual cello or double bass but to a pianoforte, graciously played by Francesco Corte, whose arpeggios and figurations propel the music forwards with relaxed energy and charm. More contentiously, however, she adds a bassoon to the double string quintet she deploys for Musica notturna, along with what the booklet notes describe as ‘discreet percussion’. Some of it, I’m afraid, is not as discreet as it might be, and while you probably won’t be unduly bothered by the rattle of a tambourine in the famous ‘Passa calle’, you might find the use of bells and chimes elsewhere gets irritatingly in the way of a performance that otherwise has great elegance and élan.
The high point is arguably the Stabat mater, an extraordinary work, in some ways, that weaves a multiplicity of styles and genres – sparse recitative, solo motet, instrumental polyphony, operatic aria – into an extended meditation at once haunting and profound, sung here with exquisite purity of tone and line and restrained intensity of expression by Sandrine Piau. The D minor Casa del diavolo Symphony has plenty of drive, drama and panache, particularly in the final rondo, which effectively filches music from Gluck’s Le festin de pierre that Gluck himself reworked as the ‘Danse des furies’ in the 1774 Paris Orphée. Gaillard, of course, comes into her own in the two concertos and sonata, playing with great tonal warmth and directness of expression, all the while meeting Boccherini’s technical challenges with accomplished ease. The C minor Sonata, placed directly after the Stabat mater, sounds quite stark, and the wit of the D major Concerto contrasts nicely with the greater formality and grandeur of the Ninth in G major. It’s a fine and enjoyable set, provided Musica notturna is not your main focus of interest.
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