The start of a major new series on Brilliant Classics: historically informed accounts of the violin sonatas by a Classical-era master of Rococo charm and invention.

Boccherini, still in his mid-20s, dedicated his Op.5 Violin Sonatas to the Parisian keyboard soloist Mme Brillon de Jouy. As a result, the keyboard is more than an equal partner with the most showy writing, in the style of the sonatas ‘for piano and violin’ by both Mozart and Beethoven. Boccherini himself thought well enough of these works to draw from them many times throughout his career. Movements from these sonatas appear in reworked guises in other chamber works and symphonies.

The other sonatas here came into being later in Boccherini’s career as arrangements of other works by Boccherini made by publishers eager to capitalise on the fame and industry of a composer renowned throughout Europe for his attractive melodic fluency. Several of them are transcriptions of his cello sonatas, though whether the arrangements were made by the composer himself remains a mystery. Other sonatas were skilfully put together from his many string quintets; they made Boccherini’s music accessible to those who could not perform the ensemble works in their original versions.

Brilliant Classics has produced the largest ever collection of Boccherini’s works on record with its 37-CD edition (94386), which won stunning reviews in the international press. This new set of violin sonatas becomes a vital addition to the Boccherini library of collectors. Each new album by the period-instrument violinist Igor Ruhadze has likewise attracted critical praise, not least in his regular partnership with the Russian-born pianist and harpsichordist Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya. Their recording of F. Geminiani’s Violin Sonatas, op.1, received warm critical praise.

‘The early-music world needs more performers like Igor Ruhadze… This is some of the most accomplished historically informed violin playing I have heard in a long time.’ – Fanfare (Geminiani, 96524)

‘Nepomnyashchaya provides a lesson in how one may realize such sonata bass lines. Her accompaniment is varied in texture and detail, balancing right-hand countermelodies with arpeggiated chordal washes of sound and heavy block chords at cadences. Like Ruhadze, she is a consummate specialist in Baroque style and practice.

‘These musicians make a strong case for the violin– harpsichord duo as an artistic medium.

‘Strongly recommended for the music itself and for the dedicated, exciting performances.’