Ronald Center: Chamber and Instrumental Music, Volume Two

Ronald Center (1913–73) is sometimes described as ‘the Scottish Bartók’, and his music does indeed capture some of the stark, wild energy of the Scottish landscape in a style of Bartókian asperity. These three string quartets show him, in his northeast corner of Scotland, to have been fully conversant with the quartets being written around the same time by Barber, Britten and Shostakovich, but their direct manner, terse expression, wiry humour and roots in Scottish folk-music ensure that Center is his own man.

The Fejes Quartet
Tamás Fejes, violin
Yoan Hlebarov, violin
Theodore Chung Lei, viola
Balázs Renczés, cello