Verdi’s late string quartet has never reached the levels of popularity of that other later masterpiece, the Requiem. That work has been described as Verdi’s best opera – a swipe at the overtly dramatic character of the setting of the Mass for the Dead.

The string quartet also has its roots firmly in the operatic world, with quotes from Aida, Macbeth and a foreshadowing of Falstaff. Verdi’s model was Mozart, and although Verdian lyricism pervades, it is essentially a ‘modern’ , or proto-neo-classical, version of a late 18th-century quartet.

Luigi Cherubini, in contrast, was determined to make his six string quartets a unique contribution to the genre. These works are individual, often complex (especially No.4) and show an intellectual rigour combined with a gift for melody – derived no doubt from Cherubini’s mastery of opera. The First Quartet dates from 1814 when he had retired from the opera house. Although Italian by birth, and having worked for many years in Paris, Cherubini's model for his quartets, and the musical vocabulary is very much German. He was much admired by Beethoven, Brahms and Wagner.

Joaquin Turina’s Oracion del torero (The Prayer of the Toreador) is an early work, influenced by Debussy and Ravel.

Recordings released commercially for the first time.

Britten Quartet:
- Peter Manning, Keith Pascoe: violins
- Peter Lake: viola
- Andrew Schulman: cello