Arcangelo and Nicolas Altstaedt record Boccherini
Following their BBC Music Magazine Award in 2017, Arcangelo and virtuoso cellist Nicolas Altstaedt turn to four more perilously challenging concerti by Luigi Boccherini, the foremost cellist of his age.
Boccherini’s cello concertos are of foundational significance. Like Beethoven’s piano concertos, they are dazzling imprints of the composer’s own virtuosity – and also test vehicles that propelled the instrument’s mechanical development to new limits. In Nicolas Altstaedt’s words: “History would have taken a different turn for the cello without Boccherini. The music is wonderful – and yet they are still very much neglected!”
Following our 2017 BBC Music Magazine Award-winning recording of the ‘hair-raising’ cello concerto of C.P.E. Bach, Arcangelo and Nicolas Altstaedt received the green light in 2019 from record label Alpha Classics (Gramophone Magazine Label of the Year 2020) to commence planning for a new reference Boccherini edition. To enhance the project, we are working in partnership with Tarisio Instruments and Fine Bows, who are helping us to present the contribution and evolution of the ‘Boccherini cello’ through this music.
The four concerti selected for the recording are No.3 in G major G.480; No.8 in D major, G.478; No.9 in B-flat major, G.482; and No.10 in D major, G.483. The recording will make use of new performing materials prepared specially for the sessions by Arcangelo’s librarian James Halliday based on the scholarly editions of Aldo Pais, kindly provided by the Centro Studi Boccherini in Lucca.
How to support this recording as a donor
We are pleased to invite donations in support of this outstanding recording. The total artistic costs are £40,000 of which £27,000 are fees for participating ensemble players, and the remainder the costs of venue and instrument hire, scores and preparation, and session management. Nicolas Altstaedt and Arcangelo Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen are taking no fee for the sessions. All donations ensure the realisation of this exceptional recording which is provisionally scheduled for release on Alpha Classics in Summer 2022.
If you would like to enquire about the possibility of sponsoring one of the four concerti on the recording, please contact Arcangelo General Manager Julian Forbes for further information: julian@arcangelo.org.uk
UK taxpayers:
https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/15498
US taxpayers:
Worldwide donors via PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=JJJY4W2ENBLW6
For other giving options or queries:
Please email julian@arcangelo.org.uk