Bottesini: String Quintets Leon Bosch & I Musicanti

• Giovanni Bottesini (1821 - 1889): String Quintet No. 2 in E Minor:
• 1 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 2 in E Minor: I. Moderato 10:19
• 2 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 2 in E Minor: II. Minuetto. Allegro moderato 05:17
• 3 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 2 in E Minor: III. Andante sostenuto 05:22
• 4 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 2 in E Minor: IV. Allegro vivo 05:22
• String Quintet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 99 "Gran quintetto":
• 5 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 99 "Gran quintetto": I. Allegro moderato 09:55
• 6 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 99 "Gran quintetto": II. Scherzo. Allegro ma non troppo 05:05
• 7 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 99 "Gran quintetto": III. Adagio 06:04
• 8 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 99 "Gran quintetto": IV. Finale. Allegro con brio 04:28
• String Quintet No. 3 in A Major:
• 9 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 3 in A Major: I. Allegro moderato 09:57
• 10 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 3 in A Major: II. Scherzo. Allegro moderato 04:14
• 11 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 3 in A Major: III. Andante 04:43
• 12 Bottesini: String Quintet No. 3 in A Major: IV. Finale. Allegro vivace 06:29
• Total Runtime 01:17:15

Info for Bottesini: String Quintets

SOMM Recordings celebrates the bi-centenary of Giovanni Bottesini, a legendary double bass player and pioneering composer for the instrument, with First Recordings of his String Quintets Nos.2 (E minor) and No.3 (A major), performed by double bass virtuoso Leon Bosch and I Musicanti. A passionate, articulate champion for the double bass, Bottesini brought the instrument out of the orchestra and into the spotlight. His own prowess on the double bass and his music for it has seen him described as “the Paganini of the double bass”. Making its first appearance on album, the C minor Second String Quintet adopts the string quartet-with-second cello scoring employed by Schubert and Boccherini to create a work of rhythmic vitality, color and contrasting moods. Also receiving its premiere recording, the intricately designed Third String Quintet, in A major, employs the two-viola instrumentation preferred by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Beethoven and is, as Toby Deller observes in his booklet notes, “the more lyrically Romantic work of the three on this recording, with four sharply characterized movements”. Scored for string quartet and double bass, Bottesini’s Naples-composed First String Quintet, dedicated to Mercadante and familiarly known as the Gran Quintetto in C minor, completes the program. It seamlessly marries a venerable and inherited Italian instrumental tradition with the bel canto poetry of Italian romantic opera. Making their debuts on SOMM are double bassist Leon Bosch – of whom The Strad has said, he “demonstrates a natural affinity” with Bottesini; “his performances combine sonorous, lyrical, exquisitely nuanced playing with a remarkable command of the instrument’s bravura potential” – and the “flexible line-up of super-talented hand-picked performers” (Planet Hugill) he founded in 2013, I Musicanti.

Leon Bosch, double bass
I Musicanti

Leon Bosch
conducts chamber and symphonic ensembles around the world and is one of the few double bass players to direct concertos from the instrument.

Having worked with the finest conductors for 30 years as a member of groups such as the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Philharmonia and Hallé, he learnt the repertoire and conductor’s craft from inside the orchestra, and finally made the transition to the podium in 2015, when he left Academy of St Martin in the Fields and went to study in St Petersburg with Alexander Polishchuk. Since then he has conducted orchestras across the UK, Europe, India, South Africa and Mozambique.

During his playing career, he performed concertos around the world and served as a guest with ensembles such as the Lindsays, Brodsky Quartet and Zukerman Chamber Players.

Leon is committed to rediscovering neglected music, as well as expanding and diversifying the double bass repertoire, and has recorded 16 CDs of wide-ranging programmes, with more in planning.

Throughout his career he has worked with leading composers, and his latest project is to revive the sonatina form for a programme he will tour and record for Meridian Records in 2021. He also commissions chamber arrangements of well-known symphonic classics for his ensemble I Musicanti, and set up I Musicanti Publishing in order to distribute these works.

He is professor of double bass at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London and gives masterclasses in the US, Europe, South Africa and the Far East. He has also served as double bass coach for youth orchestras including the I, Culture Orchestra, National Youth String Orchestra, Miagi Orchestra and Buskaid. He has contributed to programmes on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and written for The Strad and Classical Music magazines.

Leon grew up in South Africa, the son of the political activist Jonas Fred Bosch, and spent time in a police cell for organising protests while at school. He left the apartheid regime behind to study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

He became a British citizen in 2000. In recent years he has returned to his roots, musically, forming the Ubuntu Ensemble with other UK-based South African musicians, and commissioning music for the South African Double Bass project, the first CD of which was released in 2020. He also acts as a mentor for South African musicians worldwide.

Away from music, he runs marathons and ultra-marathons and holds a Master’s degree in Intelligence and International Relations from Salford University.

Booklet for Bottesini: String Quintets