Elliott Carter - String Quartets Nos 1 And 5 (Naxos Audio CD)  

Released to celebrate the American master Elliott Carter’s centenary, this is the first of two discs of the complete String Quartets.

Carter himself has written: "I probably decided to write what was to be the First Quartet when I read about a composition prize in Liège, Belgium, because there were many ideas swarming around in my imagination about expression, rhythm, & harmony, mostly derived from my Cello Sonata ... Then my Second, Third, & Fourth Quartets developed my imaginings in different directions"