LUIGI BOCCHERINI
Fandango - String Quintets

String Quintet No 73 in B flat major (1787), Op 39 No 1, G 337
“per due violini, viola, violoncello e contrabasso obbligato”
1 i. Andante lento 4:13
2 ii. Allegro vivo – Tempo di minuetto – Grave – Allegro vivo 3:03
3 iii. Rondeau. Allegro non tanto – Minuetto – Rondeau 6:51

String Quintet No 77 in D major (1788), Op 40 No 2, G 341
“Fandango”
4 i. Grave 1:20
5 ii. Tempo di Fandango 6:05
6 iii. Minuetto: Allegro. Trio 4:19

String Quintet No 12 in D major (1771), Op 11 No 6, G 276
“L’Uccelliera”
7 i. Adagio assai 0:50
8 ii. Allegro giusto 9:36
9 iii. Allegro (I Pastori e Li Cacciatori) 2:12
10 iv. Tempo di Minuetto 2:31
11 v. Tempo di prima 4:31

String Quintet No 60 in C major (1780), Op 30 No 6, G 324
“Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid”
12 i. Le campane de l’Ave Maria 0:43
ii. Il tamburo dei Soldati
13 iii. Minuetto dei Ciechi 2:19
14 iv. Il Rosario 4:22
15 v. Pasacalle. I spagnoli si divertono per le strade 1:58
16 vi. Il tamburo 3:36
vii. Ritirata

About this album

Luigi Boccherini himself was an outstanding cellist and devoted a great deal of space to his instrument in his oeuvre. He was particularly fond of the string quintet in the special instrumentation of two cellos or cello and double bass, of which he can be considered the “inventor” - he wrote over 100 works in this genre. Its origins are closely linked to the court in Spain, where he found a complete string quartet of professional musicians in the Fontin Boadilla del Monte family, whom he joined with his concertante cello.

Cellist Josetxu Obregón and his ensemble La Ritirata have selected four of Boccherini’s string quintets for the new CD Fandango. The quintet’s name was inspired by Quintet No. 77, which in the second movement strikes up the rhythm of the popular Spanish dance and requires the cellist to pick up the castanets. But Boccherini also translates his Spanish impressions into music in many other places: in Quintet No. 60, the nightlife in the streets of Madrid is depicted with many sound impressions such as church bells, marching soldiers, beggars playing music and street singers, and Quintet No. 12 takes us to the royal birdhouse with birdsong and twittering.