Nicol� Paganini's Quartets for Strings and Guitar offer some of the best examples of his inexhaustible creativity, including ideas and themes that were later included in his more famous concertos. The Seventh Quartet combines mastery of form with endless melodic inventiveness, while the Fourteenth is more virtuosic, allowing it's dedicatee to shine as a violinist with splendid effectiveness. The dark color of the viola gives unique timbre to the Fifteenth Quartet which, with it's moments of operatic expressiveness, is outstanding in Paganini's chamber music output. Volume 1 of this edition (CDS7912) was considered "first-rate" in every regard by the American Record Guide.