Michal Kanka, Jaroslav Tuma, Petr Hejny - Luigi Boccherini: Sonatas for Cello and Continuo, Vol. I (2023) [24/96]

The son of a cellist and double bass player, Luigi Boccherini (1745-1805) quickly became famous as a child prodigy on the cello. He began his career at the age of thirteen, and the following year went to Vienna with his father, where they both worked at the court theatre. His time was divided between Vienna and his native city of Lucca until 1766, when he undertook a concert tour with the violinist Filippo Manfredi throughout Europe, staying more than a year in Paris before going to Spain, where Boccherini settled, working as a composer and cellist at court and becoming a prominent figure in the musical life of Madrid. He also worked for the future King of Prussia, Frederick William II, for whom he made numerous ‘deliveries’. He died in 1805, having received little support from his protectors at the end of his life.

Author of a considerable number of works, but incomplete and disseminated throughout Europe, it will be necessary to wait for the work of the musicologist Yves Gérard to have a real inventory and a critical catalogue of his compositions. The case of his Cello Sonatas is characteristic; written at very different times, not all published during his lifetime, the number is finally stopped in the catalogue Gérard (G.) at 29. Six of the seven sonatas of the present anthology bring together the ‘great sonatas’ probably intended for the King of Prussia in the years 1787 -1797. Their invention and their harmonic sense are of great richness, unparalleled for the time. Their tessitura extends over 5 octaves, and, unlike early works, these mature scores avoid any paraphrase and elements of external virtuosity. The continuo, always in two voices, avoids a simple repeat to maintain a real dialogue between the instruments. An admirer of Haydn, Boccherini also bridges the gap between the Baroque world and the Romantic period, keeping from the classical style only the passing fashion of ‘Sturm und Drang’ and the use of the pre-classical sonata form ‘fast - slow - fast’. The central slow movement, however, takes on an increasingly appreciable importance, whereas the finale stylizes the minuet with variation, then the ‘modern’ monothematic rondo. A clear path to see the birth of Beethovenian writing!