CHARLES HUBERT PARRY (1848-1918): String Quartet No. 3 in G, String Quintet in E Flat (World Premiere Recordings).

Description: English chamber music of this period is still rather thin on the ground, so collectors should be delighted at this new release from the English Music Festival's house label. Misplaced amongst batches of Gerald Finzi's papers, Parry's 1878 quartet wasn't rediscovered until 1992; its most striking movement is its third, described by the composer as "a death's head scherzo with gleams of hope in it". Brahms' Op. 88 quintet was probably the impetus for Parry's 1884 work (revised 1896-1902) although only parts of it "sound Brahmsian" and there is much experimentation in approach to tonality and in structure, especially in the return of musical material. The Bridge Quartet, Robert Gibbs (viola).