Alexandre Tansman's range of styles makes him difficult to pigeon-hole. The Clarinet Concerto begins like the prelude to Debussy's Pelléas but continues with sinuous, chromatic melodic material. On the other hand, the Concertino (which is actually longer than the concerto) is rhythmic and neo-classical, a bit like one of Martinu's concerto grosso-type works. The Six Movements are spiky and dissonant, quasi-Bartók, but melodic. Tansman's decision to write the obligatory fugue at the end is unfortunate, but there's plenty of interest before we get to that point. All of these pieces were composed in the period from 1952-63.

The performances are quite good. Both wind soloists have attractive timbres and the strings play crisply and cleanly (save for a few screechy bits that seem to be more Tansman's fault). The engineering, though, balances the two soloists much too far forward, making soft playing impossible and capturing way too much clicking of keys. Forewarned is forearmed, so keep this in mind before you decide to sample this otherwise intriguing disc.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com