Instrumental Cherubini

Although Cherubini’s compositions for keyboard instruments have not been entirely absent from the recorded catalogue, this part of his oeuvre is not yet widely known; he is perhaps still most associated with his operas and, especially since Riccardo Muti’s great recordings, his choral compositions for the Restoration monarchy. The present CD contains six keyboard sonatas published by Cherubini when he was twenty-three years of age, and thus when he was still living in his native Italy. The sonatas were printed in Florence in 1783, and remained Cherubini’s only publication of instrumental music until the appearance of the first three string quartets in 1836. The pianist Andrea Bacchetti along with Mario Marcarini, who wrote the liner notes accompanying this CD, together prepared a new edition of the sonatas based on the original sources…