This work is rightly regarded by many scholars since Picquot (1851) as one of Boccherini's supreme masterpieces. Every single quartet of this remarkable opus has its own, and very individual, qualities. To name just some of the highlights, I would recommend especially the contemplative and sensitive first movement of G.201, the final movement of G.202 with a particularly elegant first motive, the cello virtuosity in the capricious first movements of G.203 and G.204 (the well-known "Allegro Bizzarro"), the melancholic first movement and the more dramatic Minuetto of G.205, and the Minuetto of G.206 with clear allusions to (Spanish?) popular music in the rhythmically intense trio. Cgo
The complete Op.32 has been recorded several times (e.g. by Quartetto Borciani for Naxos). There is a new critical edition by Cliff Eisen (Ann Arbor: Steglein, 2003), and an excellent discussion by W. Dean Sutcliffe, Archaic Visitations in Boccherini's Op. 32, Boccherini Studies 1 (2007), 245-276. Cgo
