Isasi: String Quartets Vol 1Naxos ***

Have you any idea what was going on in the world of string quartets in Spain in the early decades of the 20th century? These two works by Bilbao-born Andrés Isasi (1890-1940) – a composer not listed in either the New Grove or Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music – suggest the strangest things. His un-numbered Quartet in E minor, written at the age of 17, sounds like the work of someone totally infatuated by Grieg. Isasi later studied with Humperdinck in Berlin, and his Second Quartet, from 1920, finds him oriented more towards German late- romanticism. Isasi seems to have been indifferent to musical nationalism and even gave German titles to some of his works. He had private means, and could afford to plough in directions of his own choosing, even though they often alienated his fellow-countrymen. A fascinating musical byway. url.ie/af6o