Boccherini: String Quartets Op 32 3-6
This is one of those CDs that are hard to take out of the player, so wonderful is the music, accomplished the playing, and realistic the sound. Boccherini churned out music bursting with attractive melodies and splendid instrumental effects, though without quite the level of sophisticated development and emotional depth that would enable history to rank him on the Mozart-Beethoven level. Still, it would be a terrible shame to miss music of such winning charm. It's not just pretty, either, as witness the inventive string writing in the first movement of the fourth quartet of the set, wonderfully marked "allegro bizzarro." And the Larghetto of that work is expressive, as are the slow movements throughout. The Borciani Quartet is named for their teacher, the leader of the great Quartetto Italiano, and their performance is firmly in the hallowed tradition of that group: big-toned, alert to nuances, and flawlessly played. There's 79 minutes of pure delight on this disc, a bargain if ever there was one.--Dan Davis