Richard Todd wrote:

>But Cherubini also wrote some abstract music, including string
>quartets.  Two of them are available on CPO 999 463-2 performed by
>London's Hausmusik.....

Cherubini's quartets are fine works which I much prefer to his orchestral,
sacred, and operatic compositions.  Although I also like the CPO disc, I
think that the Melos Quartet does even better on a 3-disc set on DG having
his six string quartets.

>Speaking of strong cases, you should hear the Manderling Quartet
>play three string quartets by Georges Onslow on CPO 999 329-2.  This
>is Volume 2 of Onslow's complete quartets.

Onslow's chamber music is very interesting and never routine.  The CPO
discs are as good as Richard states.  Another great Onslow disc is
L'Archibudelli performing string quintets on Sony Vivarte.

My rule of thumb is to not discard composers of this period based on not
liking their large-scale works.  Always give their chamber music a chance.
It's usually much better.

Don Satz
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