One of the joys of reviewing is when a minor composer belatedly receives their due. This isn’t one of those cases, for the simple reason that Grażyna Bacewicz is emphatically not a minor composer. The Silesian Quartet’s Gramophone Award-winning Chandos cycle of her string quartets (8/16) made a powerful case for Bacewicz as a 20th-century master of the form on a par with Shostakovich and Tippett. This new disc reinforces that conclusion: this is the potent, instantly communicative music of a larger-than-life artistic personality.

For proof, start with the Violin Quartet (1949) and notice how, even in music intended for students, Bacewicz instantly establishes a sense of character and musical purpose. Much of that is down to her command of string textures, and time and again Bacewicz uses that command to shape the emotional direction of her larger-scale works. A cello wails like a siren over the oppressive opening of the 1963 Cello Quartet; sul ponticello shivers crackle in the Second Piano Quintet (1965), while quiet violin glissandos fall like meteors against a darkening sky. The piano chimes softly, a warning bell amid the sombre mists that open the Second Quintet’s Larghetto; and elsewhere swoops from the top to the bottom of its register in grand, dazzling runs.

Again, then: a huge personality. Bacewicz can generate irresistible symphonic momentum in the space of a four-minute movement and integrates eloquent bleakness with some of the sharpest, most light-footed musical wit since Haydn. If you’ve already got the Silesians’ Bacewicz quartet cycle, be assured that these performances share the same emotional commitment, attention to detail and electrifying verve. If you haven’t: well, this disc deserves to make a lot of converts.