Structures for String Quartet (1951) - Feldman

String Quartet No 1 (1995) - Ann Hoban

Two Lyric Sketches (1986-87) - John McLachlan

`Movement' for String Quartet (1987)- Kevin Volans

String Quartet No 1 (1985 rev 1994) - Gerald Barry

Of the five works presented in Sunday's recital of contemporary string quartets in the Lane Gallery the newest sound came from the oldest work. Morton Feld man's Structures with its sparse textures, its weighted silences, and its extraordinary restraint was like advance publicity for an as-yet-unexplored country and when it ended one would like to have heard more.

The String Quartet No 1 by Ann Hoban was notable for its nonlegato style, each vertical chord separated by a short rest. This device soon outran its experimental interest and the few sustained passages were more promising. John McLachlan's Two Lyric Sketches had much more variety and were that much more stimulating in their effect.

Kevin Volans writes that his "Movement" was inspired by Philip Guston's paintings of discarded objects ". . . falling like garbage . . ." but the music was tightly organised and recognisably in the style of his previous works such as White Man Sleeps with the African ethnic influence apparent. The musical material could hardly be considered garbage but even if it were it was transformed into something worthy of preservation.

Gerald Barry's String Quartet No 1 will have surprised those who think of him as a maniacal connoisseur of fast tempi and sudden gear changes. The Quartet shows him in meditative mood; it has the delicacy and way-wardness of an Aeolian harp and its ethereal textures make one think of Renaissance polyphony rather than of an enfant terrible. The instrumentalists played the work with the same sympathetic attention to nuance that they showed in the rest of the programme.