The arresting output of Naomi Pinnock (b1979) has not received much exposure in the UK (the Huddersfield Festival excepted), so it is not surprising it fell to Wergo to issue this first release devoted to her work as part of its long-running Edition Zeitgenössische Musik series.

The two movements of the Second Quartet (2012) contrast in various ways, not least those trenchant chordal gestures of the first – its ‘I retrace your steps’ subtitle evoked by gradual falling away then sudden renewal of tension, heading seamlessly into the inward rumination and halting silence of its successor. That this is music intent on forging its own continuity is confirmed in Words (2011), where the composer’s abstract phrases are intoned by the soloist such that they complement the instrumental writing without seeking any more explicit goal.

Lines and Spaces (2015) alternates between three expansive and ethereal ‘space’ pieces with three succinct and repetitive ‘line’ pieces in a sequence whose whole is audibly more than the sum of its parts. Both formal and expressive emphases seem more unequally placed in Music for Europe (2016), the alluring sonorities of this latter-day broken consort thrown into relief by the breathy resonance of even-numbered pieces whose ‘porous without loss’ subtitle aptly indicates their function as interludes within the overall sequence of introspective elegance.

No reservations concerning the quality of the performances, the crisply defined recording or the detailed annotations. A pity the ensemble piece Four Humours was not also included, but this can be downloaded from NMC and, like the present disc, is well recommended.