Boccherini: La musical notturna delle strade di Madrid Harmonia MundiHMC 902092 *****

Boccherini's famous Minuet is rarely heard in its original context, as the third movement of his String Quintet in E, Op 11 No 5. Cuarteto Casals and cellist Eckart Runge play it with a melting delicacy that makes it seem newly minted. They're wonderfully vivid, too, in the pictorialism of the Quintet in C, Op 30 No 6, subtitled Night Music in the Streets of Madrid. They fearlessly point up the oddities which caused the composer to seek pardon for aspects of the music that didn't "comply with the rules of composition". The stylish performances on this disc extend to a fine string quartet (in G minor, Op 32 No 5) and a Guitar Quintet in D. The latter

is a recompilation by the composer of movements from string quintets, and closes with a castanet-accompanied Fandango. Another winner from Cuarteto Casals. See url.ie/55ay