Boccherini Quintet Boccherini Quintet The Boccherini Quintet (Quintetto Boccherini) was a string quintet founded in Rome in 1949 when two of its original members, Arturo Bonucci (cello) and Pina Carmirelli (violin), discovered and bought, in Paris, a complete collection of the first edition of Luigi Boccherini's 141 string quintets, and set about to promote this long neglected music. Since then, they performed all over Italy and Europe and in many parts of the world, including thirteen tours of North America. After the death of the two founders, the violist Luigi Sagrati became the main organizer of the quintet's recording and performing activities
String Quintet (Schubert) with Kurt Reher on second cello (a 1994 CD reissue of this performance was awarded a Gramophone Award). Among modern recordings, that featuring the Melos Quartet with Mstislav Rostropovich (1977) has been acclaimed, and is notable for the exceptionally slow tempo adopted for the Adagio. Rostropovich later recorded the quintet with the Emerson String Quartet (12/1990) on the occasion of the gala concert celebrating the 125th anniversary of the BASF AG, Ludwigshafen. A few recordings of the quintet performed on period instruments exist, including a 1990 recording on the Vivarte label with the following lineup: Vera Beths and Lisa Rautenberg,