The Piatti Quartet continues its exploration of the music of Ina Boyle with this fascinating album on the theme of fantasies and the vision of an extraordinary promoter of music. Walter Cobbett (1847-1937) was a successful businessman and promoter of chamber music who set up a competition for British composers in 1905 and single-handedly created the 'Phantasy' (his spelling), inspired by the instrumental works for viola da gamba or string ensembles from the 16th and 17th centuries. Ina Boyle submitted her composition in 1919 but had misread the 'piano & strings' requirements. Herbert Howells submitted his composition in 1917, and Malcolm Arnold, who joined after the competition was over, continued the form with his Phantasy, which he composed at the age of 19. Cobbett also commissioned fantasies, including the work by Vaughan Williams from this 1912 album, and Augusta Holmès depicts the mythological figure of Hibernia in her 7th Vingt Melodies - a slow nationalistic march describing Christmas in Irish mythology. Tippett was awarded the Cobbett Medal in 1948 for his services to chamber music, but when Stravinsky died in 1971, he was one of several important composers who wanted to commemorate the composer. The 1972 work In Memorium Magistri is recorded for the first time on this album, as are the two works by Boyle.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Phantasy Quintet
+Ina Boyle: Lament for Bion; Still falls the Rain für Mezzosopran und Quartett
+Herbert Howells: Streichquartett op. 25
+Malcolm Arnold: Phantasy for String Quartet “Vita abundans”
+Augusta Holmes: Melody Nr. 7 „Noel d’Irlande”
+Michael Tippett: In Memory Magistri