GEORGE EDWARDS (b.1943): The Isle is Full of Noises for Orchestra (Manhattan Sinfonietta; Jeffrey Milarsky), String Quartet No. 2 (Jack Quartet), Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano (Patrick Pridemore [horn], Aaron Boyd [violin], Stephen Gosling [piano]), Czeched Swing and Suave Mari Magno for Piano (Gosling).

Description: Edwards' idiom combines the sensuous, almost decadent atonality of early Second-Viennese developments with intricate contrapuntal complexity, resulting in music that works on many levels, emotionally and intellectually. The isle takes its title from Shakespeare; the 'noises' are four very identifiable thematic elements which can be traced in their subtle and enigmatic interaction and development. Suave Mari has a quasi-romantic, descriptive feel to it; it comes across as a romantic seascape depicted in modernistic, terms but traditional pianistic textures. The enigmatically titled Czeched Swing is a free fantasia, suggesting jazz mood but in mainly non-jazzy dissonant harmonies. The quartet is polyphonically complex, the first movement emphasizing modern textures; the second, much more tonal and less fragmentary, is in variation form. The horn trio explores the timbral and coloristic potential of the ensemble, in a notably late-romantic idiom, a smaller-scale precursor of The Isle.