Laurence Sherwood avers that...

>...The liner notes describe him [Jones] as "arguably Wales's greatest
>composer", an accolade I take to be akin to being "the tallest building
>in Witchita."

Not so long ago, I'd have thought so too.  But then I didn't know about
Alun Hoddinott (1929-), William Mathias (1934-92) or John Williamson
(1931-?): all extremely good composers engaged in broadly 'traditional'
forms.  Conductor Owain Arwel Hughes also apparently composes; I don't
know John Rutter enough to comment on his music.  I'd be surprised if
there weren't more worthies in Wales's roster (see
http://www.wmic.org/catalogue.html).

Cemal Resid Rey (1904-85) shows me that there are more fine Turkish
composers than just Saygun.  My point being that if we look carefully
we'll bump into music of quality in just about any country with a large
urban centre.

Heck, not long ago I ran into a Peruvian composer whom I'd rate as highly
as any of those I've mentioned, and not just because it's my country of
origin.  Going at least on 2 string quartets and a cello concerto, I'd
say Celso Garrido-Lecca (1926-) is composing as rigorous and thrilling
music as any other living composer's.

All that aside, I am curious to hear the quartets by Daniel Jones that
you mentioned.

Happy listening, and crank it up!

Bert Bailey ...on a Coltrane binge