WLADYSLAW SLOWINSKI (b.1930): Suite for the Royal Castle, KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI (b.1933): Clarinet Quartet, KRZYSZTOF MEYER (b.1943): Capriccio for 6 Instruments.

Description: Meyer's Capriccio is in his Shostakovich-influenced fully mature style, and will certainly appeal to admirers of his later quartets that we've offered over the past several years. The first movement has a concertante aspect, with the strings in the role of 'orchestra' to the (alto) flute's soloist. In the energetic second movement, the flute is a more integrated part of the ensemble, while the strings predominate in the mournful finale, punctuated by sporadic interjections from the piccolo. Slowinski's suite is neoclassical, or neo-baroque, with stylized, elegant Baroque dances paying tribute to an important venue for Polish musical history with affection and gently humorous touches, such as the Mozartean musical joke that ends the piece. Penderecki's 1993 quartet, firmly a product of his tonality-based Romantic style, also hints at the amazingly pervasive influence of Shostakovich, though suggestions of Beethoven and, in the harmonically unstable Serenade movement, Berg, are also apparent. The work opens and closes in an atmosphere of pervasive melancholy, especially in the long, very slow last movement - another late-Shostakovich trait. FourTune.