Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) 6 String Trios, Op. 47 [G. 107-112] (1793) Trio L'Europa Galante: Fabio Biondi (violin), Angelo Bartoletti (viola), & Maurizio Naddeo (cello) I. String Trio No. 1 in A major (G. 107) 00:00 - Allegro moderato 05:15 - Tempo di menuetto II. String Trio No. 2 in G major (G. 108) 09:44 - Andantino 17:07 - Tempo di menuetto III. String Trio No. 3 in B-flat major (G. 109) 22:06 - Andante allegretto 30:29 - Tempo di menuetto IV. String Trio No. 4 in E-flat major (G. 110) 34:10 - Adagio 39:56 - Tempo di minuetto V. String Trio No. 5 in D major (G. 111) 43:28 - Andantino moderato assai 53:04 - Tempo di minuetto VI. String Trio No. 6 in F major (G. 112) 57:35 - Allegretto moderato assai 1:04:05 - Allegro non tanto "For a long time, it was thought that Boccherini spent a considerable amount of time in Prussia (1787-1796), this on the strength of a quite spurious document. The fact was that he never left Spain, but he did receive an allowance from Friedrich Wilhelm II, who greatly appreciated his music. Boccherini sent him a fair number of his compositions, and it is for this reason that the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin houses copies of the Opus 47 Trios, to give just one example. These trios date from 1793 and were composed between February and October of that year. Compared with the 'great' trios, Opus 14 (1772) and Opus 34 (1781), they are treated in a far simpler manner. These Opus 47 works, unlike their predecessors which consisted of three or even four movements, have only two movements. Not one of them, incidentally, is written in the minor. One may well ask oneself what lies behind this evolution. Was the composer intent on achieving a greater degree of purity in his music, but at the same time lending it increased subtlety? Or was he out to capture a wider audience by means of more accessible music? It really would appear that Boccherini had set his heart on writing less complex pieces, whatever the genre. Later on, following an insistent request from his Parisian publisher, Pleyel, he even agreed to write a collection of six pieces, two works in his own style and four 'according to your desires'. However that may be, there is no lack of invention in the pieces and once again, one finds that inexhaustible melodic charm which characterizes all Boccherini's chamber music. Although five out of the six trios end with a minuet, the first movements are highly diverse, as though the composer had set out to give each page his own unusual psychological character. There is a remarkable ambiguity about the music: smiles or melancholy? By such subtle shifts of lighting, Boccherini, just like Haydn and Mozart, manages to make his way along the narrow ridge dividing the language of the baroque era from romantic expression." - Jacques Bonnaure (trans. John Sidgwick) Painting: Six studies of a cat, Thomas Gainsborough