Seppo Pohjola: String Quartets Nos. 5 7

The origins of this album – the Artemis Quartet’s first recordings of Shostakovich – lie in the ensemble’s long-established relationship with the great pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja. For years, the quartet had been wanting to record the Russian composer’s Piano Quintet with her. It is coupled with Quartets No 5 and No 7, multi-faceted works which are expressive of the composer’s private persona.

Volume 2 of the complete string quartets by Philip Glass is the latest recording from the multi award-winning Molinari Quartet. This digital-only release features string quartets 5 to 7 and will be followed by a third volume to be recorded next year. The complete set of quartets will eventually be released as a box set.

Seppo Pohjola (b. 1965) studied with Paavo Heininen and Erkki Jokinen at the Sibelius Academy from 1990 to 1995, since when he has been a free- lance composer. His core works include six symphonies, two violin con- certos, two piano concertos, a cello concerto, nine string quartets, and six operas, one of them for children. Many of his works, such as symphonies 1 & 2 (Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo) and string quartets 1–4 (Kamus Quartet) have been released on the Alba Records label. The quartets and the children’s opera were both nominated for a Finnish Emma award.

Like his more famous compatriot Krzysztof Penderecki, Poland's Krzysztof Meyer experimented freely with avant-garde musical techniques early in his career before evolving towards more traditional yet still complex and challenging compositional parameters. While he has compiled a large and impressive body of orchestral and vocal work, I find his chamber music most compelling, especially his 12 string quartets, which I rate among the best written during the past four decades.