DONALD MARTINO (1931-2005): Fantasies and Impromptus for Piano, Piano Trio, Serenata Concertante for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Flugelhorn/Cornet, Violin, Cello, Piano and Percussion, MALCOLM PEYTON (b.1935ish): Elegy for Solo Clarinet, PETER HOMANS (b.1951): Quintino for Flute, Clarinet, Viola, Cello and Piano.

Description: Martino's meticulously detailed scores display his mastery of extended dodecaphonic techniques in a very individual vocabulary which includes gleeful exploitation of instrumental virtuosity and hints of vernacular elements or historical references, rendering the pieces surprisingly approachable for such uncompromisingly theoretically exact compositions. The piano pieces are varied and fantastical in mood, richly 'orchestrated' in piano texture, with no sense of the apparent randomness of pitch groups given by some complex modern atonal piano writing; the logical progression of the musical argument is always clear. The 2004 trio combines a characteristic rhythmic flexibility with strongly lyrical linear writing for the strings and a notable avoidance of harshness in the harmony of what is undeniably an atonal vocabulary based on serial techniques. The Serenata incorporates a sense of jazz in the distant background of a work which, while complex remains communicative, even irreverently humorous, with two lively scherzo movements to lighten the mood with displays of scintillating virtuosity. 2 CDs.