Cello Sonata in A major G4 (c1760)

One of the refreshing qualities of Boccherini’s many Cello Sonatas is that they entrust the cello with a responsibility long denied it by other composers of his generation - and the next, and even the next after that. Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Brahms all had doubts about entrusting the cello with a full-scale slow movement and overcame them only in the last of their respective Sonatas. As a cellist himself, however, Boccherini knew exactly what the instrument was capable of and had no qualms about exploiting its potential for eloquence. Even a work as early as the Sonata in A major (which is thought to have been written several years before the composer settled in Spain) includes an expressive Adagio with a sustained, if highly decorative melodic line that moves daringly high up the A-string. In this version of the score, which is also published in a three-movement format, the Adagio comes first and is followed by the Allegro - highly resourceful in terms of both tune and texture - which opens the alternative version.

Affettuoso

One of the refreshing qualities of Boccherini’s many Cello Sonatas is that they entrust the cello with a responsibility long denied it by other composers of his generation - and the next, and even the next after that. Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Brahms all had doubts about entrusting the cello with a full-scale slow movement and overcame them only in the last of their respective Sonatas. As a cellist himself, however, Boccherini knew exactly what the instrument was capable of and had no qualms about exploiting its potential for eloquence. Even a work as early as the Sonata in A major (which is thought to have been written several years before the composer settled in Spain) includes an expressive Adagio with a sustained melodic line that moves high up the A-string. What virtuoso effects he might himself have performed in the cadenza that would have linked the Adagio to the Affettuoso we can only guess but, to judge by the brilliantly effective cello writing in both the last movement and the first, they would not have been lacking in textural and colour variety.