Donald Satz asks for recommendations of Boccerini symphonies:

>1.  Overall, are they worthy of purchase?
>2.  Do they compare well in quality to the chamber works?
>3.  Which recordings do you recommend? I'm aware of Pople on Hyperion,
>Goritzki on Claves, Tafelmusik on DHM and Sony, and Scimone on Erato.
>Period instrumentation is not necessary, although Tafelmusik looks most
>attractive at this point.

I have a series of 3 discs of Boccherini symphonies on the 'Arts' label
performed by Accademia Strumentale Italiana.  As far as the performances
and sound quality goes these discs are excellent.  There is however a
question mark over the quality of the works themselves in my opinion.
On first hearing I found them bland and boring.  But having just read
the notes and on listening to them again at this moment I'm prepared to
give them further consideration.

Quote from the notes by Giorgio Pugliaro:

  "Melody in Boccherini has a structural function similar to that
   performed by harmony in Viennese classical music, and it is melody
   that taking a highly original capricious, even bizzarre path,
   rejecting the harmonic rules underlying the deductive processes of
   the strict sonata form, constitutes the unifying, cohesive element
   of composition, exerting as it were a magnetic attraction over
   other  parts in a flexible but perfectly organised system."

Ignoring the fact that this is possibly the longest sentence ever written,
I find that the quote useful in evaluating Boccerini's symphonies.  But, it
seems to me that the statement could equally be made about Haydn.  Perhaps
this is why I find a lot of Botterini's works very Haydnlike, particularly
early Haydn.

I can highly recommend these discs as an economical but effective way
of exploring the works.  There is nothing in the notes to indicate that
authentic instruments are used but the performance is certainly very
sympathetic to period ideals.

Sound 5
Performance 5
Music You decide.

Bob Draper
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