A pleasant acquisition for all of one dollar. Here is a nice mono Lyrichord issue featuring the Aeolian Quartet of London performing the String Quartet No 1 of Luigi Cherubini.
This composer is very hard for me to peg. Consider that he was born before Beethoven, was a mature man as Haydn entered his brilliant final phase in composition and lived up to the time of the early operas of Wagner. That's quite a span of time and musical innovation! Needless to say, I find this composer's music difficult to pigeon hole as it contains elements of Haydn, Beethoven, Weber and Mendelssohn. It's plucky and enjoyable stuff though it does not come close to the greatest works in this genre by Beethoven, Schubert, Schubert and Mendelssohn.
This "earlier" version of the Aeolian Quartet was a very fine ensemble. I would say it's a marriage of equals with full and fair participation on behalf of each member. The quartet certainly make a strong case for Cherubini and I'm sure that listeners will enjoy this rare find.
DOWNLOAD