programme notes

phoenix collective

Bella Italia:

Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805)

String Quartet no 47 in G minor op 32 no 5

Allegro comodo 

Andantino

Menuetto con moto

Allegro gusto

A cellist and composer, Boccherini was encouraged in his musical ambitions by his father, who was a cellist and bass player. The young Boccherini was sent by his father to study in Rome and Vienna. His prowess as a cellist was established early on, and he was renowned for being able to sight-read violin parts at pitch, a skill which came in handy when his violinist colleagues were unexpectedly absent.

Boccherini was for a time employed at the court of Charles III of Spain, although he famously lost his job when the monarch criticised a passage in a newly composed trio – instead of altering it as requested, Boccherini doubled the length of the offending passage.

A prolific composer, Boccherini wrote at least 141 string quartets. After his death, his work was somewhat neglected, and he was sometimes disparagingly described as ‘Haydn’s wife’, in reference to the similarity of their compositional styles.

The Quartet no 47 is written in a Classical style, with a standard movement structure for the era. It is a charming work, full of the tropes and conventions of the time. However, contrary to what might be expected from Boccherini as a celebrated cellist, the quartet features a prominent first violin part. This is seen particularly in the final movement, which finishes with a flashy notated cadenza for the first violin.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) 

String Quartet no 1 in E minor (1873)

Allegro

Andantino

Prestissimo

Scherzo fuga

The String Quartet no 1, written when Verdi was at the peak of his operatic compositional prowess, is the only surviving chamber work in his output. Its composition was due to a unique circumstance: the soprano in Verdi’s Aida had become ill, which delayed performances. This left Verdi at a loose end in his hotel in Naples. The composer, who had made a study of the string quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, decided to use the time to write his own quartet.

The quartet had its premiere two days after the opening of Aida, in Verdi’s hotel room to an audience of eight other hotel guests. The work was so well received that the small audience demanded that it be repeated immediately. Verdi himself remained equivocal about it, writing “I don’t know whether the Quartet is beautiful or ugly, but I do know it’s a Quartet!”

The work is predictably full of operatic drama. The first movement is in a truncated sonata-form, clearly referencing string quartet compositions of the Classical era. The restless theme of the opening is passed from one instrument to the other, and is followed by an almost chorale-like second subject. The slow movement opens with a lyrical melody that could easily come from a Verdi opera, which contrasts with the more agitated middle section. The exuberant third movement begins with a flurry of notes and features chromatic running figures, which give way to an expressive cantabile melody in the cello. The final movement takes the form of a fugue, in which Verdi shows his mastery of contrapuntal writing. A piu mosso section whirls the work to an exciting conclusion. 

Giovanni Sollima (1962–)

Viaggio in Italia (A Journey in Italy) (2000)

L’ortolano

Zobeide

Federico II

Born into a family of musicians, Giovanni Sollima is both a celebrated cellist and a composer of international renown. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the world, whilst also maintaining a career as a composer for film soundtracks and the concert hall.

Originally a suite of fourteen movements, Viaggio in Italia was commissioned to accompany an exhibition celebrating the Buccellati jewellery and design house, which featured examples of their craft. Sollima’s pieces are designed to paint sonic pictures of aspects of Italy – its history, art, landscapes and personalities.

L’ortolano (The Gardener) takes its title from the sixteenth-century Giuseppe Arcimboldo painting of the same name. Arcimboldo famously created tromp l’oeil oil paintings in which seemingly mundane objects such as fruit and vegetables form alternate images of human faces when viewed from another angle. Sollima interprets this visual trickery with an imitative work in which the first violin introduces two bar phrases which are copied exactly by the other instruments at two bar intervals. The work becomes so complex and layered that it is hard to believe that the instruments are simply playing the same material at different times.

Zobeide references the work of celebrated author Italo Calvino. In Calvino’s Invisible Cities, Zobeide is described as a maze-like city built from men’s dreams, in which the streets wind around themselves like a skein. Sollima evokes this confusion and circularity with frequent disconcerting modulations and enharmonic changes, with the lack of harmonic anchor resulting in an uneasy but nonetheless beguiling work.

Federico II is named for the thirteenth-century King of Sicily, Germany and Italy, who was also the Holy Roman Emperor. Recognised even in his own time as a polymath, he spoke six languages and was a devoted patron of science and the arts. Sollima describes Federico II as “a very modern political figure, open to the world and different cultures”. The composer expresses this musically through references to Middle Eastern modes, uneven time signatures and various extended technical effects, such as percussion, sul ponticello and pizzicato textures. It seems likely that Federico himself would have been delighted by such an innovative and sympathetic portrayal!

Musicians, Phoenix Collective Quartet:

Violin 1 & Artistic Director - Dan Russell

Violin 2 - Pip Thompson

Viola - Ella Brinch

Cello - Andrew Wilson