The two string quartets of Robert Simpson (b1921) recorded here form a pair. The Tenth Quartet (For Peace) (1983) was composed for the tenth anniversary of the Coull Quartet who gave its first performance at the University of Warwick in June 1984. Robert Simpson followed this work almost immediately with a counterpart, the Eleventh Quartet (1984); again the premiere was given by the Coull Quartet, this time at Alfreton Hall, Derbyshire, in March 1985.