The Piatti Quartet present a new album on the theme of “phantasies,” featuring music by Ina Boyle, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howells, and Malcolm Arnold. The program is inspired by the vision of one extraordinary patron of chamber music: Walter Cobbett (1847–1937), who created a competition for British composers in 1905, and singlehandedly created the ‘Phantasy’ (his spelling), taking inspiration from the 16th and 17th century instrumental works for viol or string consorts. Ina Boyle entered hers in 1919 but misread the requirements of “piano & strings.” Howells entered his composition in 1917, and Arnold, whilst coming after the competitions ended, continued the form with his Phantasy composed when he was 19. Cobbett also commissioned Phantasies, including the Vaughan Williams work on this album from 1912. The program concludes with two miniatures, one by the Irish-French composer Augusta Holmès, and a tribute to Igor Stravinsky by Michael Tippett, who was awarded the Cobbett medal for services to chamber music in 1948. The Tippett piece as well as two by Boyle receive their first recording on this album.