Arriaga String Quartets No, I in 1) minor. No.2 in A; No. 3 in E flat. Sine Numine Quartet (Patrick Genet, Francois Gottraux, vns; Nicolas Pache, va; Marc Jaermann, vc).

Claves ED (D CD50-9501 (75 minutes: DDD).

In any roster of gifted composers tragically cut off in their youth - for example Pergolesi and Norbert Burgmtiller (considered "another Schubert") at 26, Lili Boulanger and Reubke at 24, Lekeu the day after his twenty-fourth birthday - there is no more striking figure than Juan CrisOstomo Arriaga, who died ten days before reaching the age of 20. He had written an octet (among other things) by II, had had an opera performed when he was 13, and three months after entering the Paris Conservatoire (aged IS) was declared to have "completely mastered harmony": two years later the highly critical Cherubini called an eight-part choral piece of his a masterpiece. By that time, however, Arriaga had already composed much, including, in a genre then greatly in vogue in Paris, the present three quartets. (An extraordinary slip in the translation states that Arriaga had hoped to have them performed at the court of King Edward VII - who had yet to be born! The king in question was in fact Fernando VII of Spain.)

These quartets are written with a sureness and maturity of technique and a felicitous flow of invention that almost justify Arriaga having been called "the Spanish Mozart" (apart from his having been born 50 years to the day after his great predecessor): indeed, there is a Mozartian shadow over the dramatic opening movement of the D minor work. Other influences, including Schubert and Rossini, have been adduced - the commentator here opts for Reicha and Onslow but particularly in the E flat Quartet, notably in the remarkable second and third movements, a distinctive personality is unmistakable (though there is a recognizable echo of Beethoven's Op. 18 No. I in the finale). Even more than those other teenage phenomena, Rossini's string sonatas and Mendelssohn's string symphonies, these quartets have a right to be judged by the highest criteria. The young Swiss ensemble Sine Noniine offer unquestionably the best performances of these now available: at times I felt they were rather pushing speeds, but their playing shows real commitment as well as considerable polish and nuance. A strong recommendation. LS