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More related to this product:
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More related to this product:

• Boccherini: String Quintets, Vol. 2
• Boccherini: String Quintets Vol. 3
• Boccherini: String Quintets, Vol. 4
• Boccherini: String Quintets, Vol. 5
• Boccherini: Clavier Quintets (Complete)
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Disc 1:

1. Andantino
2. Largo
3. Minuetto Allegro, Trio
4. Allegro assai
5. Amoroso
6. Allegro non tanto
7. Minuetto, Trio
8. Presto
9. Allegretto
10. Adagio non tanto
11. Minuetto, Trio
12. Presto

Disc 2:

1. Adagio
2. Allegro e con forza
3. Adagio
4. Rondeau Allegro
5. Non tanto sostenuto
6. Allegro assai
7. Allegretto
8. Pastorale
9. Allegro Maestoso
10. Minuetto con variazioni

Customer Rating: - Boccherini's First Quintets - and Wow!
Luigi Boccherini is known as a master of chamber music, especially for his string quintets as he produced around 125 of them, most of them being scored for string quartet + an extra cello. This collection showcases the first six quintets that Boccherini wrote and he certainly seems to have started off well. The first quintet starts off with a warm, "light-hearted seriousness" but contains a very lonely Largo that alternates between wistfulness and regret. The third quintet has a very "curiously playful" minuetto that contains bursts of forte that make it almost impossible not to wave your arms. This is followed by a stormy and dramatic Presto that is intriguingly endearing if anything. The fourth quintet starts off barely audibly in its introduction and builds to a very warm and welcoming Allegro. This quintet is based on his Opus 7 C Major symphony and his "Symphony with concertante guitar" written at the end of his life (and a companion piece to his guitar quintets) is in turn based on this quintet. Finally, the last quintet opens with a Pastorale and Allegro that Boccherini would later use to introduce his "Fandango" for string quintet which was later transcribed into its most well-known embodiment for string quartet + guitar (the tempo on the Pastorale is a bit fast here I think, so try the guitar quintet version by Europa Galante for best results). In all, these quintets show a glimpse of what his style would look like as he went on to write many more. Each has its own intrigue and peculiarities about it and perhaps "peculiarity" and "intrigue" are great words to describe Boccherini's work as a whole.

If this is your first exposure to Boccherini it is wise to beware that he had his own musical language that is pretty distinct from Haydn and Mozart. It seems that he was primarily interested in weaving a sort of "musical tapestry" with his melodies, sort of the music world's counterpart to the tapestry and wallpaper designs of William Morris. "Music for music's sake." All this to say that he had his own ideas about his craft that may not readily fit in to one's expectations of chamber music. If you really listen though and let him be himself, you should find him to be a uniquely talented composer.

La Magnifica Communita does a great job though the recording sounds a bit "far off" which tends to slightly blur the distinction between each instrument. However, this doesn't detract in any major way. I know this is the opposite of what the previous reviewer said, so listen for yourself and see what you think. Everything considered, this is a great album!

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Customer Rating: - small ensembles of excellence
I have read that "La Magnifica Communit? was founded 15 years ago as an ensemble-and I quote, now, from their publicity blurb-"deeply convinced of the importance of philological and stylistic research in order to understand the music of bygone ages." That's as it may be, but in these performances devoted to the op. 10 string quintet collection of Boccherini they offer technical expertise, sharp accenting, singing tone, cantabile phrasing, a broad range of dynamics, rich but varied textures, a feeling for collective music-making, and attentiveness to tempo markings and the score: in short, all the qualities that have traditionally marked small ensembles of excellence for nearly a century, without much ado over their philological antecedents. This is not meant sarcastically; I couldn't muster a jibe, even if I'd been seeking one, after the good humor induced by performances such as these. But I find it ironic that the banner of authentic performance has led LMC back to exactly the same place as other fine Boccherini stylists of 30 years ago and more. These musicians differ from their earlier colleagues in only one respect: a lack of vibrato. The results are attractive, however, without the rasp, whine, or wow that passes among poor performers for good tone.

The music itself was published in 1771 but is in the composer's mature style, with all the variety of mood, structure, and source materials that this implies. I disagree strongly with the liner notes that refer to the "conventional four movement plan" in these works. Even if we allow that an international consensus on string quintet form had already evolved, which it hadn't, Boccherini ignores it in favor of six different solutions to what makes an effective string quintet. For example, the second of the set starts with a lengthy, moderately slow movement, marked simply "amoroso," while its second movement of equal size is a zestful, fully elaborated symphonic finale-with two shorter movements to follow. The third quintet begins with an allegretto that's more than twice the length of any of its other three movements, and the last two quintets in the series explore variations on three-movement forms. The content is as varied, touching upon Spanish and Italian models, classical and indigenous materials, various Baroque and evolving Classical traditions.

Engineering is good, balancing the five participants in a small hall environment, with a layer of resonance that never blurs the textures. Highly recommended, even more so since this is labeled Volume 1. Let's have Volume 2 soon, if you please."

I await