Don Satz:

>In a festive mood, I ordered from Music Boulevard all the Hyperion discs
>devoted to Simpson's string quartets.  They should arrive in a few days,
>and I'd appreciate as a "preview" some comments from those list members
>familiar with these works.

There is a lot to enjoy.  As well as 15 string quartets, there are 4
quintets (one with clarinet, one with cello, one with viola, one with two
clarinets), and a string trio.  If forced to choose only one performance
from the Hyperion discs (and that would be painful), I would plump for the
Vanbrugh's performance of the 14th Quartet as the highlight of the series.

If you like the first three, you might be interested in the Pearl cd (GEM
0023) of the Element Quartet's performances.  The pieces were written for
them, and they show a wonderful understanding of the way Simpson chews over
the tonal implications of his material (the sound quality is very dodgy in
places since the original sources for this disc are recordings from Simpson
private tape collection made in 1953/54).

Best wishes,
Andy Jackson