Luigi Boccherini : Sonates & concertos pour violoncelle

Album review

In the words of cellist and director Bruno Cocset, the concept behind this disc of Boccherini cello concertos and sonatas is as follows: "I imagined the composer meeting up with the members of Les Basses Réunies [Cocset's ensemble], stopping off, or rather making a detour, on his way from Paris to Madrid to visit us at my home in Brittany!" Although as concepts go, this one may appear particularly far-fetched, as performances go, these cannot be beat. By stripping down Boccherini's scoring in the two concertos to a six-piece chamber ensemble and in the three sonatas to trio of two cellos plus guitar, Cocset has emphasized the lyrical and the introverted over the virtuosic and the extroverted and thereby made the music seem more warmly intimate and more immensely appealing than ever. This is not to say that virtuosity is lacking -- Cocset and Les Basses are all first-rank players and Cocset gets plenty of chances to strut his stuff in Boccherini's cadenzas -- but it is to say that the affectionate interplay among the musicians is as attractive as the music. Listen to the way the soloist and the concertante bob and weave over, under, around, and through each other in the opening Allegro of the A major Concerto. Listen to the way the soloist and the guitarist blend and balance each other in the cadenza of the closing Allegro of the B flat major Sonata. This is music-making of the highest order exactly because it presents the best possible case for the music. Alpha's sound is, once again, utterly translucent.

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