The days of Crystal Palace Messiahs and monster orchestras
playing the Brandenburgs have long since gone, and an
historically informed approach is expected of present day performers.
Sometimes there seems even to be an element of competition as
to who can produce the most outlandish performance based on
previously unused evidence or theories. The present disc has
gone in quite the opposite direction, and presents these Sonatas
in the edition produced by the Italian cello virtuoso Alfredo
Piatti (1822-1901) in the 1870s - in other words, the form in
which they used most commonly to be heard until relatively recently.
I started listening fully expecting to disapprove, but almost
immediately I was won over by the sheer musicianship of both
the arrangements and the performances. The Sonatas were originally
published for cello and bass continuo. They have been recorded
in that form using a variety of instruments – Naxos has an excellent
version of some of them using fortepiano as continuo instrument
- but always the two lines of the original published version
are clearly audible as the basis of the performance. Piatti
however did not stop at adding chords and occasional imitative
lines to Boccherini’s bass. Certainly the published bass part
is there, albeit sometimes in different octaves, with elaborations
and sometimes simplification of the original, but in addition
there is a whole host of imitations using the whole compass
of the piano. The result is that whilst the cello remains dominant
the two instruments are much more equal partners. In lesser
hands this could have been a disaster, and indeed there are
plenty of examples of nineteenth century editions of baroque
and classical works which wholly change the character of the
work, thickening the texture and obscuring the simpler lines
of the original. That is not the case here. Piatti was certainly
generous as well as extremely imaginative in what he gives the
pianist to do, and he adds yet further difficulties to an already
difficult cello part full of double stops and very high passages.
This could sound hectic or over-busy, but as played here it
is pure delight from beginning to end. Given that Piatti was
encouraged by such composers as Liszt, Mendelssohn and Sullivan
this should perhaps be no great surprise.
I had not heard of Fedor Amosov before. He studied with an array
of fellow-Russian cellists, including Rostropovich, and has
won several competitions. He plays with great panache, delicacy
when that is called for, and has an enviable range of tone colours.
Above all he is responsive to the sheer charm and melodious
qualities of the music. The Taiwanese pianist Jen-Ru Sun was
also previously unknown to me, but I am very pleased to have
heard her here playing as an equal partner and making the most
of the opportunities that Boccherini – and, even more, Piatti
– provides. With a clear recording and good leaflet notes this
has been for me an exceptionally and unexpectedly enjoyable
disc which I hope will be tried even by those to whom historically
informed performance is normally a sine qua non when
choosing recordings.
John Sheppard
Fedor Amosov (cello); Jen-Ru Sun (piano)
