Cuarteto Casals: Boccherini Quintets/Quartets

Boccherini wrote 141 dapper string quintets, so it’s a pity that the Cuarteto Casals give us “the” Boccherini Quintet: the one including The Ladykillers Minuet. They play it so seductive that one forgives their unoriginality. And the high cello parts are elegantly sustained. Also on this disc are Boccherini’s other hit chamber works, including the Fandango Guitar Quartet (replete with castanets) and the 1780 quintet in which the composer — banished to the provinces by the king for disobedience — nostalgically evokes nocturnal Madrid in surreal, almost cinematic fashion.