At the première in Paris of Joaquín Turina’s Piano Quintet‚ Isaac Albéniz‚ arriving late‚ asked the person next to him – Manuel de Falla – if the composer (seated at the keyboard) was English. ‘No‚ sir‚ he’s from Seville’ was the reply and afterwards the three composers had a famous meeting which changed Spanish music for good. Yet one can understand Albéniz’s confusion; the Quintet (1907) is a typically Franckian product of a student of d’Indy’s‚ charming but anonymous and devoid of anything Iberian. It is not a patch on the wonderful Piano Quartet released in 2000 by Black Box (8/00). Just how immediately Turina acted on Albéniz’s exhortation to make his work more Spanish can be heard in the other large scale work here‚ his sole (and otherwise unavailable) String Quartet. This sun­drenched five­movement suite (1910­11) is hugely engaging‚ especially the central ‘Zortzico’‚ and strongly crafted (again on Franckian cyclic lines). Its subtitle ‘De la guitarra’ is evocative of Spain in general rather than the instrument in particular. Both La Oración del torero (‘The Bullfighter’s Prayer’‚ 1924­25) and Serenata (1934) are best known in their orchestral guise‚ but both started out in smaller forms – the latter indeed as a quartet for lutes. The more intimate textures are beguiling‚ as are the performances throughout. Indeed‚ this is a very attractive issue‚ marred only by an awkwardly translated and poorly proof­read booklet. The balance in the Quintet is nicely judged while the Greenwich’s tone is just right for the repertoire. Warmly recommended.