Rossini: Sonata a quattro No. 5 in E flat major

Rossini’s Six String Sonatas, scored for two violins, cello and double bass, date from 1804, and were all composed in three days – the composer was just 12 years old! They display an astounding precociousness, and a sound grasp of the music of Haydn and Mozart. Each player is given his own voice, and each work poses considerable difficulties for the players – especially the second violin part, which Rossini wrote for himself. There is a surprising amount of emotional depth to be found in these works that belie the age of the composer – the Second Sonata is a good example, where Mozart’s influence is at its most potent.

Twelve student instrumentalists from the Accademia di S. Cecilia formed I Musici in 1952. Praise came early from Arturo Toscanini: ‘Twelve capable lads of 18, a perfect chamber orchestra. I applaud them!’ I Musici soon became one of the leading European chamber ensembles, specialising in the music of the Italian Baroque, but later embracing Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, and contemporary music.

Recording made in 1971

"Fresh and fun, these arrangements for wind quartet are a sparkling delight in performances by four very fine English players. These three-movement sonatas are early pieces by the composer, and the arrangements by a contemporary, Frederic Berr, a wind player himself, catch all of their spontaneity, dramatic flair and tunefulness. There's...a lot of good listening and some terrific horn work by Thompson, leader of this virtuoso foursome."

- The State 28 April 2002

Rossini wrote these six sonatas for strings – two violins, cello and double-bass – at the precocious age of twelve. He was scathing about them in later life, even after transcribing them for string quartet – a form in which they have retained popularity and a place in the record catalogue – but they reveal in more than embryonic form his talent for virtuosic writing and his infallible ear for a fine tune, no less than Mendelssohn’s string symphonies do at a similar age: both composers show a sophisticated fertility of invention beyond that of Mozart at the same age. Now these sonatas take on new colours, transcribed for flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon, and dispatched with élan by the wind principals of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.