Those who attended English National Opera’s production of Alexander Raskatov’s A Dog’s Heart in 2010 and came out both repulsed and attracted by its absurdist satire will be in for a very different kind of surprise with Monk’s Music. Based on texts by Starets Silouan (or St Silouan the Athonite, as he became known posthumously), Monk’s Music is no less dramatic than the Russian composer’s opera, in fact, but in a far more personal and thoughtful way.

Premiered in Dundalk, Ireland, in 2013, the basic structure of Monk’s Music is straightforward. A solo bass intones a short text taken from St Silouan followed by an instrumental section for string quartet. The pattern is repeated seven times in total (hence the reference in the title to Silouan’s ‘seven words’). Within this rigid, almost ritualistic process, Raskatov shapes a work of smooth transitions and sharp juxtapositions: darkly dissonant during the first movement’s opening exchanges, gently uplifting in the second, aggressive and assertive during the third, mellifluous in the fourth, passionate during the fifth, agitated during the sixth and exuding moments of transcendent beauty in the seventh. Each movement shifts, sometimes uneasily, between these modes in a state of flux, all of which is designed to portray a spiritual journey that is often full of turmoil, conflict and self-doubt. Silouan’s words act as a springboard for Raskatov’s imagination and he has responded with an intensely expressive, engaging and moving work.

Bass soloist Gordon Jones and the Carducci Quartet are equally impressive on this recording, the former drawing on previous experiences of singing Raskatov’s work with The Hilliard Ensemble to give shape and resonance to the chant-like iterations, and the latter for a performance of supreme clarity, focus and precision.