©Photo: Marco Borggreve

The Arcangelo Recording Fund 20/21: Nicolas Altstaedt

3/3/2021

The results of Arcangelo and Nicolas Altstaedt’s first collaboration were truly outstanding, with the finished album extracting every ounce of hell-for-leather brio and spectral stillness from the cello concertos of that most offbeat of Bachs, Carl Philipp Emmanuel, and winning a 2017 BBC Music Magazine Award. Now Arcangelo and Altstaedt reunite for an even more thrilling prospect – four concerti by the foremost cello virtuoso of the 18^th Century, Luigi Boccherini.

The total artistic costs of this exceedingly ambitious recording, being the rehearsal and recording fees due to participating musicians, are approximately EUR 46,250. We would be exceedingly grateful for help towards our goal from the Friends of Arcangelo, supporters of Nicolas Altstaedt, and all fans and supporters of Boccherini’s music and artistry, and invite you to make your donations to the project via this platform. Links to donate are at the bottom of this page.

‘Nicolas Altstaedt and the sinewy warmth of his 1760 Gigli are a great fit for this often rather wild music…Arcangelo under Cohen breathe the music, capturing the frequent storminess but also bringing substantial dignity, their zing coming from their actual tone and lucid textural balance…’
(Gramophone)

‘In the B‑flat major’s concerto’s Allegretto, Altstaedt trades expressive elegance with frenetic bowing, as if furiously scraping an old house, flakes of paint flying everywhere… the atmospheric effects that the conductor Jonathan Cohen conjures here — muted strings sighing in anguish — are breathtakingly cinematic.’
(The Washington Post)

‘This recording captures all the fiery wit of orchestral-soloist banter…’
(BBC Music Magazine)

The repertoire to be recorded

Cello Concerto no.3 in G maj G.480
Cello Concerto no.8 in D maj, G. 478
Cello Concerto no.9 in B‑flat maj, G.482
Cello Concerto no.10 in D maj, G.483

Say “Boccherini” and even experienced music-lovers will struggle not to hear that minuet, or to name many further works beyond perhaps the Cello Concerto in B flat — but this is an absurdly small view. For Boccherini wrote symphonies, cantatas, church music, theatre music, sonatas, concertos, duos, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets — and was the foremost cello virtuoso of his day, celebrated throughout Europe. It is a discrepancy which has fascinated Nicolas Altstaedt for years, and which has led him to this latest project, as he explains:

© Balazs Borocz - Pilvax - Lockenhaus — Nicolas Altstaedt © Balazs Borocz — Pilvax — Lockenhaus

“The B flat major concerto was the first grand concerto which I learned as a child on the cello, though in the version edited by Friedrich Gruetzmacher. Much later on, in my conservatoire days, I started to look into sources and found a very different Boccherini to the one that had been „advertised” by publishing companies and CD labels.”

“The music of the cello concertos is wonderful – and yet they are still very much neglected! There is to my knowledge still no complete recording on period instruments and they have disappeared from concert programmes, perhaps because the 20^th century repertoire for cello has had such an impact. But we must remember that history would have taken a different turn for the cello without Boccherini – he stands as the first and probably best player/composer to write for the violoncello with a unique voice.”

NA Marco Borggreve 01 — Nicolas Altstaedt © Marco Borggreve

The recording process

“You have to play very differently for microphones than for an audience.”, Nicolas Altstaedt continues.

“Microphones have no mercy and are extremely challenging. Recording puts your whole existence on alert, into a red zone of maximum awareness. It forces you to dig deeper into a piece, overcome limits and raise new questions about what you have ever done. I always come out of a recording with new perspectives, experiences and ears. There is a lot of overcoming and struggle, but as much joy and fulfilment. But I always know that with Jonny I have the best musical companion and guide. We have played together now for more than 10 years. This has created a sort of blind and mutual understanding, and I know that in whichever situation we find ourselves, we will work together and enjoy it!”

Recording sessions

Recording sessions will be held on 17 – 21 May 2021 at St Jude’s Church, Hampstead Garden Suburb. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the church’s remarkable array of vaults and domes have earned it secondary fame as one of the world’s great recording locations; Arcangelo have used it for multiple award-winning projects in the past. The recording ensemble will comprise 20 orchestral musicians alongside Nicolas Altstaedt. Arcangelo Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen will direct the ensemble from the harpsichord.