A common feature of these three string quartets is their stylistic root in a minimalist musical language. This may also account for a rather 'orchestral' manner of writing - with little of the intimate dialogue between four equal voices that is the hallmark of classical convention - for which the model would seem to be Shostakovich, a comparatively rare instance of Soviet influence on post-war Estonian composition. Vasks's Sommer Gesanger ("Summer Songs"; 1984) in particular strikes me as a suite of ecologically minded tone pictures for four instruments, inspired by the composer's concern for nature and man's catastrophic effect on it (all too apparent in Estonia, with its toxic residue from Soviet industry). Arvo Pärt's 1989 arrangement for string quartet of Fratres (the original version of the piece, for violin and piano, was composed in 1977) is in a very real sense not a quartet at all, but is rather a string trio played over a constant minor-third drone provided by a second violin.

Erkki-Sven Tüür's Quartet is the one piece here in which a certain amount of traditional writing does appear. In two well-contrasted movements, it is perhaps the most satisfying of the three works, with a reprise of material from the short first movement's opening worked into the close of the longer second.

The sound is of very good quality, with all details clearly captured. I have no caveats about the performances from the Duke Quartet either, which are utterly compelling and totally committed.

Guy S. Rickards
(From: Gramophone, July 1996)