This first recording of the three Peteris Vasks quartets opens with the most recent and best. Written in 1995, the Third is cast in four movements, two moderately paced outer ones framing a dynamic Allegro energico and a searching Adagio. The finale is the most remarkable, functioning as a recapitulation of the preceding three movements, like a quartet in miniature (Moderato-Allegro-Andante-Moderato). While not a work to rival those of Simpson, Holmboe or Shostakovich, it is compelling none the less.

The First is the least satisfying of the three, originally composed in 1977, but recorded here in a 1997 revision. Its three effect-strewn movements fail to integrate their advanced technicalities with the lilting lyricism - heard fitfully in the concluding 'Melodia' - that we have come to expect from the composer of Cantabile. Too often, purposeful openings just run into the sand. It does have its moments, though, as in the driving, rhythmic start of the central 'Sonata'.

The Second Quartet, Summer Tunes (1984), is the best known of the three. The Miami is quicker than the rival Duke Quartet throughout, if only by 20 and 30 seconds in the first two movements ('Coming into Bloom' and 'Birds'); however, in the final 'Elegy' the newcomer is more than two minutes swifter (yet there is no unseemly haste in the playing). If the Duke does perhaps follow the Molto espressivo marking more closely, the Miami's approach is equally valid. The Duke's couplings (quartets by Estonians Part and Tuur) are more varied, but this all-Vasks disc has obvious appeal to collectors. Sound quality is fine if not exactly spectacular.

Guy S. Rickards
(From: Gramophone, July 1999)