FRANÇOIS HOULE (b.1961): Clarinet Concerto, JOHN KORSRUD (b.1963): Liquid, YANNICK PLAMONDON (b.1970): Schrift, GIACINTO SCELSI (1905-1988): Kya.

Description: The Korsrud is a shimmering minimalist work which generates a wealth of intriguing textures by overlaying quasi-improvised, free-jazz-like activity over the expected repeated intervals and broken chords of the genre. Plamondon's Schrift is also a highly textural work, highlighting the solo clarinet in a musical landscape incorporating repetitive structures and suggestions of popular styles, ethnic musics and jazz. T he soloist's own concerto is an atmospheric, somewhat post-romantic work with world-music and big-band overtones, insistently pulsating and decoratively melodic. Scelsi's Kya is largely typical of the composer's mature style, eastern-influenced with microtonal pitch-bendings and an atmosphere of meditative ritual, rising to an unusually visceral climax in the last movement. François Houle (clarinet), Turning Point Ensemble; Owen Underhill.