"With playing both sensitive and lively, the Allegri Quartet brings these melodious works back to life at last, and the sound is sweet-toned, very clear, with amazing realism in their string timbres. A valuable discovery."
HiFi News & Record Review

"...a particularly striking second-movement Allegretto which is worthy of the young Mozart. The vivacious finale of the Second Quartet... is comparable with Haydn." Penguin Guide to Compact Discs

Sirmen (1745-1818) was renowned in her day as a virtuoso violinist (a pupil of Tartini), a fine soprano and excellent composer. Starting as an inmate of a Venetian orphanage specialising in musical education, she toured Europe as both singer and violinist to great acclaim, and had her music published in both Paris and London. She is one of the earliest known female musicians to succeed without the social and financial advantages of being a member of the nobility, and without the connections consequent on coming from a family headed by a composer.

		Sirmen		String Quartet No.4 in B flat major	9:45
	1			i.   Cantabile	7:55
	2			ii.   Minuetto	1:48
				String Quartet No.3 in G minor	11:24
	3			i.   Tempo giusto	6:22
	4			ii.   Allegro— Sostenuto—Allegro— Sostenuto	4:59
				String Quartet No.6 in E major	9:59
	5			i.   Andantino	6:17
	6			ii.   Con brio—Minuetto—Con brio	3:40
				String Quartet No1 in E flat major	12:17
	7			i.   Andante ma con un poco di moto	6:12
	8			ii.   Allegretto	6:02
				String Quartet No 5 in F minor	12:30
	9			i.   Larghetto—Allegro—Larghetto	8:10
	10			ii.   Minuetto	4:18
				String Quartet No.2 in B flat major	12:09
	11			i.   Andantino	7:05
	12			ii.   Allegro	5:01
TT: 68:25