Rudolf Red

Dvorak was only 30 when writing his first A major Piano Quintet, given its premiere in Prague in 1872. Dissatisfied, even with his attempted revision some 15 years later, he chose not to publish it but to take up the challenge anew in the now universally loved A major Quintet (Op. 81), completed in the early autumn of 1887. How good, all the same, that the earlier work eventually (in 1922) found rescuers, and that both quintets can now be compared and enjoyed on CD. The latest version comes from Rudolf Firkusny (long recognized as ''the world's foremost exponent of Czech music'') and America's youthful Ridge Quartet, and what warm and characterful playing it is too.

Vasks (b. 1946 in Latvia) is one of the rising stars of the Baltic region. His music has some affinities with that of Part and Tormis, and while Vasks isn't afraid to tap into different stylistic modes, like Schnittke, his music remains mostly tonal and doggedly idealistic. Musica Dolorosa (1983) is a masterpiece, plain and simple. Its combined strings create a sound world similar to Gorecki's famous Symphony 3. The major work here is the Symphony Stimmen (Voices) for string orchestra. It's unimaginably beautiful, full of flirtatious string-borne melodies and shadows of sadness here and there.