He may remain best known through his works for brass band but Edward Gregson (b1945) has amassed a substantial and diverse output that has been covered extensively by Chandos and more recently Naxos, whose latest release focuses on the composer’s chamber music.

Bookending this selection are his string quartets, a medium that Gregson has described as ‘the composer’s ultimate challenge’. The First Quartet (2014) faces such a challenge head on, its first movement abounding in jagged and dislocated gestures, with a wistful secondary theme whose belated return provides an affecting close. With aspects of march and burlesque before its concluding lullaby, the ‘Fantasia on a Chorale’ is the highlight, but the bracing final rondo rather contrives its ultimate affirmation; something that Gregson avoids in his Second Quartet (2017). At the centre of this single movement is an apex of sustained passion, framed by martial and scherzo episodes whose acerbic harmonies and refractory textures are thrown into relief by the initial Siciliana, whose transformation brings a close of ethereal eloquence.

These are convincing renditions by the Navarra Quartet, whose violinist Benjamin Marquise Gilmore is no less equal to Triptych (2011) – its initial dialogue eliding the Dionysian and Apollonian to heady effect, followed by a Liebeslied of subdued pathos then a Moto perpetuo of bristling virtuosity. As to the arrangements of earlier pieces, the songful Le jardin à Giverny (2016) harks back to Gregson’s formative years while Benedictus (2021) easily transcends its vocal origin. Alison Teale and Rob Buckland do them proud, and anyone curious as to Gregson’s exploratory side should certainly investigate this excellently recorded and annotated release.