In the first two string quartets – composed in 1983-84 (there is a third from 1993) – and the short Testament of 2004 dedicated to ECM's Manfred Eicher, the influence of Bartók looms large, though Shostakovich is also there in the background. These works join a long and honourable tradition in Russian chamber music as an arena for private memorialisation, for confessions shared between artistic souls. In fact both are in the best sense musicians' music, in that they trace long lines of expressive thought, the ideas ebbing and flowing naturally. In every movement there are memorable ideas that connect and reveal new prespectives on repeated hearings.
In an unsensational way, therefore, this is one of the most satisfying discs of unfamiliar music for a long time. Credit for that impression must go in large part to the sensitivity and musicianly insight of the Rosamunde Quartet and to another beautifully judged recording from ECM.

In the first two string quartets… the influence of Bartók looms large, though Shostakovich is also there in the background. …both are in the best sense musicians' music, in that they trace long lines of expressive thought, the ideas ebbing and flowing naturally. In an unsensational way, therefore, this is one of the most satisfying discs of unfamiliar music to reach me for a long time. Credit for that impression must go in large part to the sensitivity and musicianly insight of the Rosamunde Quartet...