Interestingly, the First Quartet (2003/05) started as a stand-alone Andante, inspired by the recent loss of Quayle’s grandmother and whose intense while never inert nostalgia is audibly of the pastoralism to be found in earlier American composers. Its sense of innocence lost (or left in abeyance) is pursued in three movements added two years later: a capricious Presto, a second Andante whose serioso marking indicates its sombre and often agitated expression, then a determined final Allegro that rounds off the work in the regretful light of experience.

The Second Quartet (2006) picks up directly on its predecessor, its compact though eventful single movement alternating between direct lyricism and an edgy incisiveness which between them evoke the Sweet Insanity of its subtitle (whether there is any covert allusion to Brian Wilson’s never-released 1991 album of that name is an intriguing thought). By contrast, the Third Quartet (2016) unfolds as 13 brief vignettes that build into a cohesive whole in spite (or because?) of those abrupt and often dislocated stylistic or emotional contrasts between them.

The Avalon Quartet took part in the premieres of the First and Third Quartets; the conviction they bring cannot be gainsaid. Vividly recorded and thoughtfully annotated (by Quayle himself), this is a welcome introduction to a composer from whom one looks forward to hearing more.