Harrison Birtwistle is unquestionably one of the most frequently performed British composers on the contemporary scene. Although bowed strings are the raison d’être of this disc, their absence is no less conspicuous in the composer's early and mature works, for he waited until he was nearly 60 before writing for string quartet, strictly speaking, and the works brought together here remain, up to the present day, his only original works written exclusively for strings.

The recording of these works by the Arditti Quartet, dedicatee of the String Quartet The Tree of Strings, which was composed for them, reflects the most recent development resulting from Birtwistle's working with this ensemble over the past twenty years.