Boccherini's correspondance qith his publisher, Pleyel in Paris, bears witness to the fact that the Six Piano Quintet op. 56, like the similar series op.57, belong to his period of intense creativity in Madrid. The fact that the score was sent to Paris, also shows that the composer was intent on establishing his reputation there, given that the piano was very much in vogue in the city at the time. We also know, however, that the same Quintest had already been performed in Madrid, in the palace of the Mrquis Benavente, in the version for strings and guitar. This version was something of a private affair and was undoubtedly due to the Marquis' predilection perhaps even his gift for the guitarl.
The piano version has the merit of giving us an insights into works which would otherwise have been lost forever.
The performance does not trumpet the differences, but rather, as Boccherini hoped, exalts the evrchanging nature of light and shade and of stasis and motion.
