It begins with cello and viola answering one another in slow, sombre gestures. Two violins join the conversation, which builds ever so gradually to impassioned heights before winding its way down to the original, spare setting. A listener can only marvel that an hour has passed as Huang Ruo’s A Dust in Time has made its inevitable journey in the form of a palindromic passacaglia. The Del Sol Quartet’s premiere recording of the work is one of what likely will be numerous artistic expressions of grief, desolation and hope triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The piece derives its structure not only from the Baroque passacaglia but also from the Tibetan sand mandala, the series of spiral-like symbols that leads to spiritual healing. Over the course of its 13 sections, A Dust in Time evokes imagery, as the composer states, ‘travelling from nothing (emptiness) to something (fullness) and then back to nothing (emptiness). A colourful perfect world created by sands, although beautiful, yet it will eventually return back to dust.’

As the voyage unfolds, listeners are encouraged to try their hands at the colouring book of mandalas by the illustrator Felicia Lee that accompanies the disc. That might not be easy. The music is so mesmerising in narrative beauty and power that one might be unable to focus on anything but the interplay of urgent lines Huang Ruo has woven together with seamless skill.

The score’s eloquence is conveyed to rich effect by the Del Sol players, who merge motifs and phrases with striking control and nuance. Recorded in May 2021, with the pandemic continuing, the performance is a time capsule of emotions felt by the entire world.