STEPHEN DODGSON (b.1924): String Quartets Nos. 1, 5, 6 & 7 "Cross-Currents".

Description: These attractive, tonal string quartets form a significant part of the output of this composer, who has been drawn to the ensemble since his student days (four early examples have in fact been withdrawn, making this No.1 in fact his fifth). Tautly argued and economical, as one might expect from a former student of Bernard Stevens, the works all share a pastoral geniality, sometimes disturbed by passing chromatic clouds; one not infrequently thinks of Vaughan Williams, and sometimes of Finzi. Such European influence as is detectable suggests Janacek, in the use of scales with odd chromatic inflections within a tonal context. It appears that as his quartet output has progressed, the composer's idiom has become more economical, especially in texture, but the style remains consistent. In the contrast between movements there is something of a suggestion of the Baroque suite, rather than the more strict classical quartet forms that developed, and the pieces are all characterful and well worth getting to know. Tippett Quartet.