an essential disc for Puccini-fanciers... these chips off the workbench fascinatingly illuminate what we know of the opera composer... recorded sound is very vivid and immediate for the excellent Raphael Quartet.... "Among the six quartet pieces I crisantemi is justly well known a charming piece that provided material for Manon Lescaut. The second of the three Minuets similarly gave Puccini the idea for the brilliant opening of that opera... Scherzo in A minor of the same year is delightful, presumably intended as another movement for the quartet" (Gramophone)