Onslow

George Onslow was an odd-man-out among 19th-century French composers. Born into wealth and privilege, the grandson of an English Earl, he had no need to follow the operatic gravy train, with string quartets (of which he wrote 36) and string quintets (there are another 32 of those) forming the bulk of his compositional output. The present disc contains his 28th, 29th and 30th quartets, in compelling performances by the Quatuor Diotima.

These quartets were written toward the end of a prolifically-creative period for Onslow in the years 1829-35. Viviane Niaux, in her informative booklet notes, ascribes this to the composer's having heard performances of two of Beethoven's late quartets for the first time in 1828, at their Paris première. Like many of his contemporaries, Onslow was at once "fascinated and disconcerted", and, although he considered them "extravagant", they seem to have been powerfully inspirational. A further spur to creativity may have been his recovery from serious injury in 1829 after he'd been shot in a hunting accident.

Pictures of string quartets on LP and CD covers can look a tad awkward, but the Quatuor Diotima have been styled and dressed to look sharp here. They have a cool and clean sound, with vituosity to spare. All three of the quartets are absorbing and enjoyable, with the middle one (op. 55 in D minor, no. 29) probably my favourite of them, with is distinctively abrupt scherzo a paticular highlight.