He may be held in affection by those who knew him but the music of Alan Ridout (1934 96) has not been recorded extensively, with mere smatterings from his sizeable choral and organ output tucked away on numerous anthologies. The disc of cello concertos (11/03) confirmed a composer of no mean resource, reinforced by the six string quartets which emerged across less than a decade (1985 94) as intimations of mortality gradually became more pronounced.

The First Quartet proceeds from a sombre Adagio, via an energetic Scherzo of audible folk inflection, to a finale whose four variations on an austerely eloquent theme open out the emotional range before a resigned close. The Second Quartet pointedly reverses these formal and expressive trajectories – its assertive Vivace being complemented by a Lento of soulful restraint, then a Presto both forthright and determined. The Third Quartet offers another take on this format, its gently ironic Fugue contrasting with a robustly humorous Scherzo, then a Passacaglia whose 12 variations are more affecting for their methodical consistency of focus.

After a six-year pause, the Fourth and Fifth Quartets are each cast in a single movement. The former, beginning and ending in pensive introspection but whose capricious central section is intriguingly ‘etherealised’, is Ridout’s masterpiece in this medium; the latter is a tensile study that maintains its toccata-like drive through to a disarming end. Reflecting the Breton environs of its composer’s closing years, the five-movement Sixth Quartet evokes aspects of the town of Vitré in music whose unforced naivety is the more appealing for its absence of affectation.

Whether or not the Coull Quartet have these quartets in their repertoire, performances are fully attuned to this engaging music. Hopefully some of Ridout’s orchestral pieces (not least the Second Symphony, dedicated to Tippett) will duly extend his recorded profile.