Album Reviews: “Boccherini - Chamber Works for Flute
“Walker’s boldness, already in evidence on two earlier albums, gives emotional depth to music that is often played too prettily … Walker clearly relishes this part, tinging her allegro melodies with dancing arabesques that fill her line with an impish, infectious humour. In adagio movements, she introduces vibrato and additions at just the right moment for the music to peak emotionally” ★★★★★ – BBC Music Magazine
“The performers, led by the brilliant Australian flautist Sally Walker, do full justice to these particularly seductive works, which are highly representative of the art of the composer”★★★★ – Roger-Claude Travers, Diapason
“The performances of Walker and her octet are almost intoxicating in vitality and absolute unanimity, alternating between refined elegance, intimate beauty and occasional cheekiness. A favourite composer of mine for decades, Boccherini binds the rococo and the early classical, and could do with a revival in this country. Walker’s enthusiasm and her inspirational performances would be a welcome start to that” ★★★★1/2 – The Australian
“Each one like a miniature universe, Walker and Friends created a memorable concert of music that will be long remembered and maybe, it might even create a revival of Boccherini’s woodwind music” – Limelight
“In a rare treat for Canberra music lovers, flautist Sally Walker joined by musician-collaborators from Adelaide, brought to life the flute quintets of Italian composer Luigi Boccherini” – Canberra City News
“It’s his less well-known works for flute that Dr Sally Walker presents on this brilliant 2CD set together with eight Australian colleagues drawn from various orchestras and musical groups … the six quintets of his Opus 19 … are all both lively and gracious” CD of the Week – 2mbs Radio, Sydney, Australia
“The delights just keep coming in this rather special album” – 5mbs 99.9 FM Radio, Adelaide, Australia
“…everything on the album is played with the proper relaxed grace by flutist Sally Walker and a shifting group of accompanimental players. This music has the same elegantly entertaining quality that it had when it first appeared (mostly in the early 1750s) more than two and a half centuries ago” – AllMusic
“they play like members of an orchestra would, in cooperative, balanced, blended exchange. If you’d like to hear members of a good professional orchestra in chamber music like this, for mixed ensembles of strings and winds, by a Spanish-Italian contemporary of the Haydns and Mozarts, you’ll find 8 selections to enjoy” – American Record Guide
“Walker uses a modern, fully keyed, but wooden flute that gives her playing a particularly sweet tone. This is a simply gorgeous album.” – Rick Anderson, CD Hot List