Reviews of music by the English composer John Pickard (b.1963) have stated that ‘he has the technique and the temperament to emerge as one of the great symphonists of the 21st century’, even that ‘his place among the greats is secure’.

This second Toccata Classics disc of his chamber music – released to mark his 50th birthday – presents both his earliest and his most recent string quartets, No.1 (1991) cast in a vast single paragraph 38 minutes in length and the five-movement No.5 (2012–13) exploring a dialectic of conflict and resolution.

Both works are receiving their first recordings here.

This is the first recording of the Brodowski Quartet for Toccata Classics.

Brodowski Quartet:
- David Brodowski, Catrin Win Morgan, violins
- Felix Tanner, viola
- Reinaud Ford, cello