Here is an entirely unaccustomed perspective on Mendelssohn's quartets. These English "period" musicians believe that Romantic music, too, should be played in the original style, with sparing vibrato, distinct articulation, great clarity, and transparency. They even discovered–and use–the bowings and fingerings of Mendelssohn's friend, the violinist Ferdinand David. Since they play extremely well, with a beautiful, full, warm, homogeneous tone, they give the music extraordinary vitality, excitement, and passion as well as a wistful, dreamy inwardness.

Soprano Sandrine Piau has been known mostly as a Baroque specialist, but she has recorded several albums of 19th century French mélodies with spectacular results. Si j'ai aimé (the title comes from one of three songs by the little-known Théodore Dubois) will be very hard for her to outdo. The list of attractions is very long and begins with the repertory. There are some familiar pieces here, such as the opening pair of songs by Saint-Saëns, but many of the composers – Dubois, Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant – are rarely performed, at least outside France, and all the songs here are top-notch.

The first disc showcases four of Boccherini's six Divertimenti. These works were originally published as Sextets, but the chamber ensemble set-up employed here is an alternative apparently sanctioned by Boccherini, who further allowed that the double bass part be omitted where desired; the flute is, however, obbligato. These works go beyond the divertimenti of Mozart and Haydn: they possess the same depth and spirit of imagination as Boccherini's String Sextets (available on PE469), which were written slightly later. Both usually have four movements, two fast and two slow, with a third-movement minuet.