KRZYSZTOF MEYER (b.1943): String Quartets, Vol. 3 - No. 7, Op. 65, No. 10, Op. 82 and No. 13, Op. 113.

Description: As with the works on the previous volumes of this series, Meyer's idiom lies somewhere between the two composers on whom he is a noted authority; Lutoslawski and Shostakovich. The Seventh is a taut, event-filled quarter-hour single-movement structure which contrasts solo writing, co-operative counterpoint and stubbornly heterophonic textures. The expansive 4-movement Tenth allows more time for introspection and discourse within the ensemble, and sounds more like a conventional entry into the 20th-century quartet canon. The recent Thirteenth begins in uneasy calm, and its three main movements, separated by lively scherzo-like interludes, chart a course toward ever greater energy and decisiveness. Wieniawski String Quartet.