The Finnish composer Kalevi Aho was only 18 years old when he completed his first string quartet in 1967. At the time, he was self-taught and was inspired by the essentially tonal music he played on the violin or heard on the radio. The 2nd String Quartet was composed in 1970, during his second year of study at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Einojuhani Rautavaara, and uses the fugue technique in each of its movements. The first performance of the quartet received excellent reviews and marked a small breakthrough for Aho as a composer. The 3rd Quartet was composed the following year and marked the end of Aho's studies with Rautavaara. In this work, Aho's personal tonal language begins to emerge, although the influence of Shostakovich can also be heard. The work was a great success and was performed more often than any of his other chamber compositions. The three string quartets were recorded here by the Stenhammar Quartet, one of Scandinavia's leading string quartets, whose wide-ranging repertoire emphasizes the contemporary music of the Nordic countries.