HERMANN SUTER (1870-1926): Complete String Quartets - No. 1 in D, Op. 1, No. 2 in C Sharp Minor, Op. 10 and No. 3 in G, Op. 20 "Amselrufe".

Description: Suter's three quartets engagingly follow an opposite path to much music - they get more conservative, easier to approach and more melodic as time goes by. His First (1901) moves between emotional extremes even as it acknowledges the ecstatic passion of Wagner's music, Suter's first revelation. But the Second, of 1910, has no trace of Wagner or Richard Strauss, its polyphony inspired by late Beethoven and the mood is narrow, between melancholy and tranquility while the Third, a "war composition" fo 1918, retreats into idyll, its subtitle "Songs of the Blackbird" identifying a return to Classical forms and music as warm, heart-easing and comfortable as you're likely to hear from anyone writing at that particular time period.