I enjoyed both these works very much. They communicate. The First Quartet comes from the mid-1950s and was written just before the Third Symphony. It has a questing, deeply expressive yet volatile first movement, a delicately flimsy dancing Scherzo, and a profound Andante balancing serenity with inwardness. The Second was composed two decades later and derives its subtitle, Spring Waters from Turgenev, whom Alwyn quotes on the title-page of his score: ''My careless years, my precious days, like the waters of springtime, have melted away.'' Its theme echoes both the disillusion and resignation of old age, and there is a hint of despair running through many of its pages. The probingly introspective first movement is followed by a Scherzo which is also troubled, viewing youth ''through a glass darkly''. The Adagio which begins the finale opens in the bleak stratosphere, then a sad cello solo, taken up by the violin, continues the desolate mood which is followed by a melancholy fugal treatment. The quickening at the end-at first ambivalent-in the music's last few seconds suddenly becomes positive.
Both works are very well played and the performances are obviously strongly felt and spontaneous in their outpouring of emotion, though they mirror the underlying restraint of an English composer not wishing to let his grief overwhelm him. The listener cannot help but respond with pleasure to the inventive flow of the First Quartet and particularly to the touching self-questioning of the Second. The digital recording from the early 1980s has fine focus and presence, and sounds admirably natural in its CD format.'