Michael Nyman: String Quartets Nos. 1-3 (Balanescu Quartet, Argo 1991)

Nyman coined the term minimalism in music criticism, and his own compositions inject the genre with fierce post-punk drive. The Balanescu Quartet performs these three quartets with razor-sharp attack, taking repeating chord sequences derived from Purcell and Romanian folk dances and driving them with ferocious, danceable rhythmic energy.