In all Paganini wrote 15 quartets for string trio and guitar, of which these players recorded the first nine in 1984 (DDD) and Nos. 10–13 in 1981 (ADD), this two-disc issue draws on both previous sets, neither of which I have heard before there is no disturbing difference in recording quality between them. The purpose in juxtaposing the first quartet with five of the last ones (written between 1818–20) is to show how much more adventurous Paganini had become in the latter, dedicated to a lawyer who was also a violinist; as usual, it is the violinist who gets most of the fun—and has to work hard for it. Four of the quartets have four movements, a minuet preceding the slow one, No. 1 and No. 12 have three, but there is little by way of formal or modulatory adventure. The annotator comments that B major, the key of No. 11, is ''very uncomfortable on all the instruments'' but only the violinist is subjected to any appreciable strain—though he doesn't betray it.
It would be a considerable exaggeration to claim that these works add up to a profound or revelatory human experience, despite some slow-movement pleadings of the 'she pawned her shawl for a loaf of bread' kind, but they are attractive in their tunefulness and the variety of instrumental textures Paganini extracts from his forces.
The Paganini Quartet make the persuasive most of them, minimizing the number of times when you say to yourself ''I can guess what's coming next''—and feel too smug about it. They believe, and they draw the listener into doing likewise. The violinist is, as I said, the star of the show, but the others provide a worthy supporting cast; when their moments of glory arrive—for the guitarist they are few—they rise eloquently to the occasion if not always fully to the pitch of the note. Paganini can be a charmer, especially when taken in moderate doses; most listeners will enjoy the seduction best by resisting the temptation to play both admirably recorded discs at one sitting. Less happily, the English version of the annotation has been sloppily proof read and is set in microscopic type.'