"In an eighteenth century of infinitely slower and more awkward communications than today, the music of Luigi Boccherini (unlike with other composers of the time) benefited from a surprisingly swift and universal circulation: hardly had a composition been issued from the maestro’s quill when a few weeks later it was being heard all over Europe, thanks to the plentiful supply of manuscripts and editions which, throughout the latter part of the Age of Enlightenment, liberally helped to disseminate such outstanding compositions. The works of Luigi Boccherini (which starting from the autumn of 1768 were written in Spain, then some distance from the important European musical centres, notably Paris, Vienna, Berlin and Naples), barely encountered any obstacles in speedily and easily reaching the libraries and music stands of places remote from Madrid. Whether this was because of their popularity, perhaps also as a result of a carefully considered sales approach, they were to be found in Saint Petersburg, Amsterdam, the Balkans, the Spanish, Portuguese, English and French Americas, and even in the faraway Indonesian archipelago, where the Dutch East India Company held a monopoly for colonial activities.
"The manifest quality of the cellist’s music – though he was born in the central Italian city of Lucca it was characteristically, even 'outlandishly' Spanish for an Enlightenment European composer – was no stranger to this broad circulation. Such music was not just personal and unexpected, but also radical and subjectively distant from the bland Viennese dictatorship lorded over as absolute masters, pontificating and imposing tastes and manners, by Mozart and Haydn.
"Nonetheless, Boccherini’s compositions, despite their extraordinary quality and the refined and unusual language, would never have acquired such notoriety and circulation without the support of the most important publishers of the time. The likes of Artaria in Vienna, Longman in London, Hummel in Amsterdam and Berlin, and de la Chevardière and Pleyel in Paris, all identified in this composer a profitable and significant source of income for the lively market within which hundreds of composers competed relentlessly. Add to this the prolific circulation of scores copied by hand (by the many professional copyists who earned decent livings from this activity), and it is easy to explain the enormous fame and esteem earned by Boccherini, in both life and death. Such was the extent of this that Haydn, eager to get in contact with Boccherini (who in his turn declared himself to be 'uno dei suoi più appassionati ammiratori' of the 'Signore Giuseppe Haidn'), enlisted the cooperation of their shared Viennese editor Artaria in order to identify Herr Boccherini’s address. The letters sent by Haydn in 1781 to Boccherini – then dwelling in Arenas de San Pedro in Ávila – failed in being delivered, and thus to convey Haydn’s 'rispettosi complimenti' and 'devoto rispetto' to our musician.
"[...] The four sonatas which have been brought together for this recording – all of them transcriptions of earlier compositions by Boccherini – have been chosen following two clearly different criteria. The first criterion is that of providing a clear and historical view of the creative evolution of Boccherini. Thus, the pieces move from his early years (the Sonata G43 derived from his first string quartet of 1761, probably written in Milan) through to the final – the most castizo and madrileño – period, (the Sonatas derived from the quartet, La Tirana and the quintet, La Seguidilla from 1792 and 1795 respectively), by way of the Sonata G24/4 derived from the Trio Op 14/4 from 1772, from a pivotal time for the establishment of the Boccherinian style, when the composer was working for the Infante Don Luis, brother of the king of Spain, Carlos III. The second criterion, perhaps the more important and interesting one for the performers here, has been to consider how to deal with the 'reinvented' Boccherinian output with the transcription as a legitimate way of artistic expression. This has been done in two ways. One is through the optic of Boccherini’s contemporaries: such is the case with the Enlightenment North America expert, librarian and German musician Christoph Daniel Ebeling (1741 - 1817), and with Jean-Henri Naderman (1734 - 1799), a harpist and French publisher of German origin. The other comes by way of the performers on this recording themselves tackling the process of transcription and adaptation, the 'reinvention' of the original piece. In doing this, they have been inspired by models from Boccherini’s own time, with the aspiration of – without forsaking authenticity and with the greatest respect to the work, the composer and his musical philosophy – providing a completely personal vision of the work as a violinist and harpsichordist would have done in the second half of the eighteenth century. Such are the devoted admirers of the Tuscan-madrileño cellist from two centuries later!
"It is fair to say that the sound of harpsichord’s tone colours may appear to be a little curious in some of these sonatas, especially in the later works. These would undoubtedly be equipped with a more 'authentic' sonority if played by a fortepiano. However, whether or not the fortepiano had been asserting itself over the harpsichord from the second half of the eighteenth century, in Spain, like in the rest of Europe, did not mean that until well into the nineteenth century in many homes, salons, convents and churches the old-fashioned harpsichord would not continue to be played, and persuasively so. This instrument would effectively be alternated with the new fortepianos in the numerous academias de harmonía or meetings of Philharmonic Societies which occupied an important place in the social life from the second half of the eighteenth century through to the first half of the nineteenth. Whether they are played with harpsichord or fortepiano, with harp or guitar, these transcriptions of 'popular' Boccherini pieces of the time, in which the balance between the two instruments – the violin and the harpsichord in our case – is innovative and can call to mind the best sonata-writing of Mozart, they represent a perfect example of the propitious partnership between the great Italian tradition with the casticismo and 'Spanishness' of the music of the wonderful Tuscanborn cellist and composer who arrived in Madrid at an early point in his career, was never subsequently to leave Spain, and became the most popular Iberian composer from the second half of the eighteenth century, and one the most important 'Spanish' composers of all times: Don Luis Boquerini." (Emilio Moreno, tr. Mark Wiggins. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Emilio Moreno, Aarón Zapico
1. Sonata In D Major, Op. 14\4: I. Allegro Giusto
2. Sonata In D Major, Op. 14\4: II. Andantino Sempre Piano
3. Sonata In D Major, Op. 14\4: III. Allegro Assai
4. Sonata In C Minor, Op. 2\1: I. Allegro Comodo
5. Sonata In C Minor, Op. 2\1: II. Largo
6. Sonata In C Minor, Op. 2\1: III. Allegro
7. String Quartet In G Major, Op. 44\4: I. Presto
8. String Quartet In G Major, Op. 44\4: II. Tempo Di Minuetto
9. String Quintet In C Major, Op. 50\5: I. Allegretto
10. String Quintet In C Major, Op. 50\5: II. Minuetto
