Cello Concerto No. 9 (Boccherini)

Luigi Boccherini's Cello Concerto, No. 9 in B-flat Major, G. 482, was written in either the late 1760s or early 1770s. Boccherini, a talented cellist, composed twelve concertos for his instrument. In 1895 German cellist Friedrich Grützmacher chose this concerto to be arranged to fit the style of a Romantic virtuoso concerto, and in this form, widely heard, it bears only a tenuous resemblance to the original manuscript.[1]

The Boccherini Ninth Cello Concerto has long been an integral part of standard cello instruction, because of creeping use of the full 4+ octave range of the cello, rather than large jumps between different finger positions.

Grützmacher merged Boccherini's Ninth Cello Concerto with other Boccherini Cello Concertos.[1][2] Besides the extensive cuts in the outer movements, Grützmacher decided to rid the Concerto of its original second movement, replacing it with that of the Seventh Cello Concerto (in G Major, G.480). The Fourth Cello Concerto (In C Major, G.477) makes an appearance in bars 40-46 of the first movement, and in bars 85-96 and 151-163 of the Rondo, borrowing from the respective movements. The arpeggios of the Fifth Cello Concerto's (in D Major, G478) first movement are featured in their minor form in bars 47-53 of the first movement. Grützmacher also took the liberty of writing his own cadenzas. Despite all the changes, this Concerto holds up as one of Boccherini's best-known works. Pablo Casals, Pierre Fournier, Janos Starker, and Jacqueline du Pré all made recordings of this edition of the Concerto.[3]

Nevertheless, Boccherini's original work is slowly beginning to resurface. Well-known cellists such as Maurice Gendron,[4] Yo-Yo Ma,[5] and Raphael Wallfisch[6] have all made recordings of this long overshadowed work. Nowadays, the two works are distinguished by their origin: Original vs. arr. Grützmacher.