Luogo e data di registrazione		-
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Edizione LP		AMADEO - AVRS 6367 - (1 lp) - durata 43' 15" - (p) 1966 - Analogico
	Altre edizioni LP		MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY - MHS 651 - (1 lp)
	Prima Edizione CD		-
	Note		Stereo compatibile

The baroque era in Rome meant a brilliant artistic upsurge. Both inwardly and outwardly the classical heritage and a specifically Roman form. In the mid-18th century Rome was still a power in the domain of instrumental music, and Roman music-schools attracted students from abroad as  well as at home. It was in Rome that Luigi Boccherini of Lucca studied with Constanzi. It is curios how the comprehensive musical researches of the present century seem to have by-passed Luigi Boccherini. Of the close on 400 works he is known to have produced barely three dosen have been recorded. He was born at Lucca, where his father was a double-bass player, and studied in Rome, becoming a virtuose perfermer on the cello and undertaking a number of concert tours that eventually brought him to Paris. From Paris he proceeded to Spain, where he enjoyed the support of the King's brother, the Infante Don Luis. In 1787 he moved to Germany, but returned to Spain on the death of his patron, Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. After enjoying for a time the patronage of Napoleon's brother Lucien, who was French Ambassador in Madrid, Boccherini lost his hold on the public and died in abject poverty. The reason why his works were already forgotten within a few years of his death is the closeness of their association with the age he lived in. It was left to the present age, with its devotion to historical research in music, to introduce a number of hitherto unknown works by Boccherini to the musical public of Europe, and to rehabilitate his reputation. The symphonies on this record have never been published and were performed from MS material in the Paris Conservatoire. It is clear from the MS that these four symphonies belong to a group of six written for the Infante Don Luis during Boccherini's first visit to Spain. Two distinct forms are used. In Op. 21/1 in B flat and 21/5 in C ,ajor a cantabile second movement is sandwiched between a traditionally brief opening movement and a Rondo-like Finale, the classical pattern set by Haydn. Op. 21/3 in B flat and 21/6 in A major revert to the older form: a short opening movement in sonata form is followed by a slow second movement, while the final movement, in the post-baroque tradition, is a sturdy Minuet, but without a Trio. Alfons Übelhör (Translation: Richard Rickett)