Royal String Quartet Hyperion CDA 67812 (2 CDs for the price of one)* * *

Polish composer Henryk Górecki (1933-2010) is not just a one-hit wonder, but, for most people, a one-work composer, known for his Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, a 1990s million-seller on CD. The compositional rigour which underlies the symphony is to be found in Górecki's other works as well, even when the balm of lyricism is in extremely short supply. String quartets were a late interest for the composer. He was in his mid-50s when he wrote his first in 1988, and completed the draft of his third in 1995, although he didn't let it out of his hands for another 10 years. The quartets as a whole come across as raw, astringent, often highly dissonant dirges of anger and despair. The Royal Quartet play these works, which obsessively explore material of extremely narrow focus, with great sensitivity to the resonances, colours and textures of string quartet tone. See url.ie/4qdb