HERBERT WILLI (b.1956): Streichquartett 1986 (Artis-Quartett Wien), Stück for Solo Flute (Wolfgang Schulz), Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano (Saschko Gawriloff [violin], Stefan Dohr [horn], Ferenc Bognár [piano]), Stück for Flute and Piano (Schulz, Bognár), Stück for Solo Clarinet (Norbert Täubl), Brass Quintet (Reinhold Friedrich, Gábor Tarkövi [trumpets], Dohr [horn], Olaf Ott, Uwe Füsell [trombones], Klavierstück XI (Bognár), Karos im Kronos 1756/1956 for String Trio (Martin Zalodek [violin], Elmar Landerer [viola], Robert Nagy [cello]).

Description: These clear, economical and precise chamber works belie their generally modern (though not especially avant garde) idiom through their irresistible sense of delight in instrumental expression and spontaneity. Operating over short spans they concentrate on thoroughly working out a musical argument without a lot of stylistically eclectic darting about within a given work. Impressionistic sensuality is present in the composer's flute and clarinet solo pieces; sheer ebullient fun in the fast movements of the string quartet and brass quintet (containing the most explicitly tonal writing by far; in general the composer's idiom lies to the atonal side of late-romantic /expressionistic chromaticism). The solo piano work suggests a parody of virtuoso pianism, increasingly utilising graphic notation as its excesses become wilder and wilder; again an appealng sense of fun underlies the modernism of the music. A most appealing disc for those who like their modernism in readily assimilable, homeopathic doses.