Boccherini: String Quartets Op. 2, Nos. 1-6
Sonare Quartett
The composer was apparently only about 20 years old when these quartets were written!
From an Amazon customer review by N Cook, which I thought quite succinct!:
Luigi Boccherini participated in the first real string quartet in the history of music. His quartet (in which he played cello) travelled around Italy playing his and Haydn’s music.
The quartets here were some of the first written by Boccherini for his group as the first pieces of music written to be played by a travelling quartet. Thus they occupy a very special, yet completely overlooked place in history.
Each of these works is full of romping energy that is very original, interesting and highly amusing though none of them fully departs from being « serious. » Perhaps an analogy would be a group of business execs in Armani suits playing soccer and loving every minute of it.
THE BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC 