Boccherini: Cello Concertos, Sonatas & Quintets Steven Isserlis & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

• Luigi Boccherini (1743 - 1805): Cello Concerto No. 6 in D Major, G. 479:
• 1 Boccherini: Cello Concerto No. 6 in D Major, G. 479: I. Allegro 07:57
• 2 Boccherini: Cello Concerto No. 6 in D Major, G. 479: II. Adagio 05:14
• 3 Boccherini: Cello Concerto No. 6 in D Major, G. 479: III. Allegro 05:27
• Cello Sonata in C Minor, G. 2:
• 4 Boccherini: Cello Sonata in C Minor, G. 2: I. Allegro 03:47
• 5 Boccherini: Cello Sonata in C Minor, G. 2: II. Largo 03:26
• 6 Boccherini: Cello Sonata in C Minor, G. 2: III. Allegretto 01:51
• String Quintet in D Minor, G. 280:
• 7 Boccherini: String Quintet in D Minor, G. 280: I. Allegro 09:22
• 8 Boccherini: String Quintet in D Minor, G. 280: II. Andante sostenuto 06:31
• 9 Boccherini: String Quintet in D Minor, G. 280: III. Fuga. Allegro giusto 04:08
• Cello Sonata in F Major, G. 9:
• 10 Boccherini: Cello Sonata in F Major, G. 9: I. Andantino 05:25
• 11 Boccherini: Cello Sonata in F Major, G. 9: II. Adagio assai 02:44
• 12 Boccherini: Cello Sonata in F Major, G. 9: III. Tempo di minuetto amoroso 03:26
• Cello Concerto No. 2 in A Major, G. 475 "The Frog":
• 13 Boccherini: Cello Concerto No. 2 in A Major, G. 475 "The Frog": I. Allegro 05:16
• 14 Boccherini: Cello Concerto No. 2 in A Major, G. 475 "The Frog": II. Adagio 03:59
• 15 Boccherini: Cello Concerto No. 2 in A Major, G. 475 "The Frog": III. Rondo. Allegro 04:12
• String Quintet in E Major, Op. 11/5, G. 275:
• 16 Boccherini: String Quintet in E Major, Op. 11/5, G. 275: III. Minuetto – Trio – Minuetto da capo 03:33
• Total Runtime 01:16:18

Info for Boccherini: Cello Concertos, Sonatas & Quintets

„Hat es jemals einen Komponisten von größerer Eleganz gegeben?“ Wenn Steven Isserlis’ rhetorische Frage den Hörer dazu einlädt, über plausible Alternativen nachzudenken, so ist es nach diesem wunderbaren Album—eine phantasievolle Auswahl von Boccherinis Cellokonzerten und cellozentrischer Kammermusik—sehr unwahrscheinlich, dabei fündig zu werden. Dies ist wahrhaftig „Engelsmusik“, entsprechend zauberhaft dargeboten.

Luigi Boccherini—ist es bloß Assoziation, oder geht vom Namen selbst der Zauber des Raffinements aus? Die Musik jedenfalls vermittelt diesen Eindruck auf ungewöhnlich starke Weise. Hat je ein Komponist durchweg Musik von solcher Eleganz geschaffen? Die Stimmung mag leidenschaftlich, kriegerisch, dramatisch oder auch zärtlich sein: Stets kommt Boccherinis Kunst in kostbaren Gewändern daher, stets strahlt sie Grazie aus. Anders als der fast gleichaltrige Haydn will Boccherini nie schockieren; lieber schafft er seinen Musikern und Zuhörern einen Raum idealer Schönheit, verfeinerter Empfindungen—und das glückte ihm wie sonst keinem. Im Vergleich mit Mozart und Haydn mag er unschuldig, ja naiv wirken, doch der Eindruck trügt—er ist einfach anders. Jene beiden verfolgten ihre Laufbahn in Wien, im Mittelpunkt des Musiklebens, und waren ganz von dieser Welt; Boccherini verbrachte mehr als sein halbes Leben weitab in Spanien und lebte dort in seiner eigenen, idyllischen Sinnenwelt. Wie es in der oben zitierten Quelle bekanntermaßen heißt: „Wenn Gott in Musik zum Menschen sprechen wollte, so täte er es durch Haydns Musik; wollte er aber selbst Musik hören, würde er die Werke Boccherinis wählen.“

Vielleicht liegt es an dieser Weltferne, dass der Ruf Boccherinis nie mit seinem Können als Komponist gleichgezogen hat—bis heute. Zwar hatte er immer seine Bewunderer, etwa Chopin, der die Sonatenform auf merklich ähnliche Weise handhabte wie Boccherini; doch ist es gar nicht so lange her, dass nur zwei seiner Werke im Konzertsaal zu hören waren: das „Menuett F-Dur“ (eigentlich in A-Dur, aus dem Quintett E-Dur) in verschiedenen Arrangements und sein Cellokonzert B-Dur, zudem noch in einer—in meinen Ohren—abscheulichen viktorianischen Fassung, die mit Boccherinis Original sehr wenig zu tun hat. Erst seit etwa 50 Jahren gibt es wenigsten einige seiner rund 600 Werke in Fassungen zu hören, die er selber wiedererkannt hätte—und auch das nur allzu selten, so schwer das auch zu glauben ist. Noch heute ist es nicht einfach, texttreue Ausgaben seiner Musik zu finden; immerhin gibt es inzwischen welche. Und welche Schätze wurde da gehoben! ....

Steven Isserlis, Cello
Maggie Cole, Cembalo
Luise Buchberger, Cello
Irène Duval, Violine
Jonian Ilias Kadesha, Violine
Eivind Ringstad, Bratsche
Tim Posner, Cello
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Steven Isserlis
Acclaimed worldwide for his profound musicianship and technical mastery, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a uniquely varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster. He appears with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, and gives recitals in major musical centres. As a chamber musician he has curated concert series for prestigious venues, including London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s 92nd St Y, and the Salzburg Festival. Unusually, he also directs chamber orchestras from the cello in classical programmes.

He has a strong interest in historical performance, working with a number of period-instrument orchestras and giving recitals with harpsichord and fortepiano. A keen exponent of contemporary music, he has given premieres of Sir John Tavener’s The protecting veil, Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés, three solo cello pieces by György Kurtág, and works by Heinz Holliger and Jörg Widmann.

Steven’s wide-ranging discography includes J S Bach’s complete solo cello suites (Gramophone’s Instrumental Album of the Year), Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, concertos by C P E Bach and Haydn, the Elgar and Walton concertos, and the Brahms double concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Since 1997 Steven has been Artistic Director of the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, Cornwall. He enjoys playing for children, and has created three musical stories with the composer Anne Dudley. His two books for children, published by Faber & Faber, have been translated into many languages. His latest books are a commentary on Schumann’s Advice for Young Musicians, and a companion to the Bach suites, published to great acclaim in 2021. He has devised and written two evenings of words and music—one describing the last years of Robert Schumann, the other devoted to Marcel Proust and his salons. Steven has presented numerous radio programmes, including documentaries about two of his heroes: Robert Schumann and Harpo Marx.

Steven’s honours and awards include a CBE for services to music, the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau, the Piatigorsky Prize and Maestro Foundation Genius Grant in the US, the Glashütte Award in Germany, the Gold Medal awarded by the Armenian Ministry of Culture, and the Wigmore Medal.

Steven plays the ‘Marquis de Corberon’ Stradivarius of 1726, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
makes old music new. Far from being an attempt to recreate the past, it instead uses historic information to create something that’s exciting now.

Founded in 1986, the orchestra’s name refers to the common term for the explosion of science, philosophy and culture in Western Europe during the 1600s and 1700s, the Age of Enlightenment. It was the time of Isaac Newton and Voltaire, and a quest for liberty. The period also found its voice in music as composers sought more freedom in the way they worked to promote their (often socially subversive) ideas.

In performance, the OAE is a collective that’s about collaboration between brilliant musicians. As the orchestra isn’t led by any one conductor, it gives players the artistic freedom to collectively take on that role. And they do so playing instruments and using techniques from the period in which the music was written. So if they’re performing Bach they do so on the instruments that would have been familiar to the conductor himself.

Booklet for Boccherini: Cello Concertos, Sonatas & Quintets