Boëly - Chamber music
Quatuor Mosaiques; Ensemble Baroque de Limoges; Coin; Lebrun
Naive LC05

Release date June 2009

This new release of music by the seldom-heard and little-known French composer Alexandre Boëly, brought to us by the award-winning Quatuor Mosaïques, is an ideal way to discover his chamber music. The opening work, Trio in C major, Op. 5 no. 2, sets the scene in many ways for the rest of the disc. We are introduced to a style of writing that has elements of both Haydn and Mozart. In the first movement, the melodic line has been given to the first violin part; the remaining two parts have a predominantly accompanying role. The overall effect is one of Classical structure and delicacy. An Adagio second movement allows the three parts to share the responsibility of the melody more fairly. Further on, the inclusion of an organ in the ensemble writing initially came as surprise to me (I've since learned that Boëly was a keen organist and wrote substantially for the instrument). The brief Three melodies for cello accompanied by organ is beautiful – the sonorous tones of the cello balance well with a distinctly subtle organ accompaniment. The three movements have been separated (my first grumble about this disc!), acting almost as an amuse bouche between each of the more substantial works. As the disc advances, so does the size of ensemble – growing from trio to quartet to sextet. Strikingly, the delicacy of the trio writing is still evident in the Sextet in D major based on a Symphony of the author. This CD shows how much of a variety of mood and texture Boëly demands of his performers and it is clear to me that Quatuor Mosaïques meet these demands with apparent ease. Unfortunately the sleeve-notes are minimal (and in French only); however, as The Times stated, “the music speaks clearly by itself”.

Reviewed by Ruth Squire