The string quartet Ethel have been gleefully persistent in advocating for new music. Their repertoire includes hundreds of new works, and the players have been more than generous in introducing fresh voices to the chamber-music canon. This recording features five pieces from the ensemble’s commissioning programme, succulently called ‘HomeBaked’, for early-career composers.

These quintets for flute and string quartet were all written soon after the pandemic, which motivated their composers to reflect upon experiences of isolation. The titles provide hints of the impetus behind the writing, which is generally tonal, with ample colour and distinctive character to keep players and listeners engaged.

Allison Loggins-Hull, who teams with Ethel as agile, nuanced flautist, is also the composer of the disc’s eponymous Persist, a captivating series of moods with muffled percussion, slivers of string detail and questing flute phrases evoking emotions the composer describes as ‘inspired by concepts of perseverance, motivation, and positive outlook’. An entirely different aura pervades Xavier Muzik’s PillowTalk, in which an awakening flute and fluttering strings interact in animated and dreamy conversation. Whooshes of sound and crystalline sonorities lead to a hushed final major chord.

The four concise movements in Migiwa ‘Miggy’ Miyajima’s The Reconciliation Suite wend their vibrant way through sundry expressive terrain, the atmospheres at turns bright, anxious, mysterious and jazzy. At one point, the string players hum drones beneath the contemplative flute. Exotic chirpings and swirling figures à la Ravel energise Sam Wu’s Terraria, which abounds in delicate colours, wisps of sound and sylvan textures.

Kanaka Maoli composer Leilehua Lanzilotti’s we began this quilt there pays tribute to the Hawaiian queen Liliuokalani, who reigned briefly in the late 19th century and made quilts and composed songs during a short imprisonment. The three movements weave lilting lines, flute aspirations and key tappings, softly grinding strings and undulating figures into luminous tonal fabrics.

Ethel and Loggins-Hull shape performances that are keenly alive to each sound world. The composers, including Loggins-Hull, can only be thrilled with the results.