Metier continues its faithful dedication to contemporary music by adding this remarkable release to its already abundant collection. The double-disc release is devoted to the American composer George Rochberg’s (1918-2005) two violin works – the Violin Sonata for violin and piano, and the Caprice Variations for solo violin, previously issued under the same label in 2003.

Rochberg is a composer who embraces a broad spectrum of compositional styles and genres throughout his long span of musical career. Plunged into Schoenbergian serialism in his early years, Rochberg, after the death of his son in 1964, discarded the technique and turned to a musical language that mixed abstract chromaticism with tonal idioms. The Violin Sonata, written in 1988, is a telling exemplification of his late style. The profound emotional expression in all four movements is characterized by the constant employment of atonality and tonal variety.

The Caprice Variations, in which Rochberg masterfully blends Modernist and Classical elements, is a beguiling, if not bemusing, composition. The one-and-a-half-hour long solo violin work begins with a theme that incorporates traditional tonal harmony in the manner of Bach’s solo violin partita – diatonic sequences, balanced phrases, and perfect cadences. Musical humor continues by the composer echoing the styles of our great predecessors such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, and Mahler – some more tacitly, some more overtly. Apart from appreciating Rochberg’s musical humor and wisdom, one may well wish to treat the variations as an entertaining test of musicianship while listening.

The marvelous recording quality captures both the music’s refined details and the sense of ample space. The informative booklet, written mainly by the violinist himself, devotes its central focus to the portrait of the composer’s personality and aesthetic philosophy. Being a long-term musical collaborator and an intimate comrade of the composer, Skærved would be the ideal one to take up the job. Not only is the general description of the performer’s rehearsing and recording procedures included, the booklet also encompasses some interesting and thought-provoking conversations between the musicians that enable the readers to have a better understanding on both the composer’s compositional process and the performer’s reception towards the music. I would have welcomed some more detailed information on the composer’s general compositional style(s) and the analytical commentary of the two works in this album so that less experienced listeners could also be benefited.

After all, an outstanding recording that provides wonderful listening experiences.

-- Danny Kim-Nam Hui, ConcertoNet.com

Rooted tonality spiced with dissonance.

The Welsh composer William Mathias died at the grievously young age of 58. I knew his name because of the Sinfonietta on a Pye LP (GSGC 14103). His music came to mean more to me when in 1975 I taped from BBC Radio 3 the first broadcast performance of This Worldes Joie. It was conducted by the composer who directed massed choirs – including children’s choirs - and the BBC Welsh Orchestra. The soloists were Kenneth Bowen and Janet Price. I listened obsessively to this extravagantly orchestrated work on tape and became increasingly impressed and won over. His writing for voices is orally intriguing and inventive; the same applies to his startling way with the percussion. There are echoes of Britten but the music breathes a deeper humanity and a more yielding emotional air. You can now hear that piece on Lyrita SRCD325 having first been issued on an EMI Classics LP (ASD3301). After that choral broadcast from the Fishguard Festival I scanned the Radio Times and added recordings of his orchestral pieces Requiescat, Litanies, Vistas, Helios and Laudi. Hearing his Elegy for a Prince I was further won over by the lapidary Baxian orchestral technique and ceremonial-magical atmosphere - the aural equivalent of druidic tapestry in motion. As for his Dance Overture it is irresistibly catchy and has more rumba in it than the Arthur Benjamin genre pieces.

Mathias wrote three symphonies and three string quartets. We can hear the three quartets conveniently assembled on this disc by a quartet who performed the Third Quartet and who were then invited to tackle all three. This they did at three separate recording sessions so there is no sense of a gabbled or ill-thought through results.

The First Quartet is dedicated to Alun Hoddinott and his wife Rhiannon. It inhabits a sombre world afflicted, to varying degrees of intensity, by anxiety. The language stands between the gloomier reaches of the ensemble writing in Warlock's The Curlew and the later Bartók quartets. This is leavened but never completely dispelled by a Bartokian didicoi wildness of the violins at 16:38. At 19:20 the violin primo is memorably heard high in the stave whistling wistfully. The music ends in a not unclouded tenderness. The music of the four movement Second Quartet takes wing although always feeling the pull of sorrow. The solo violin carries this flighted buoyancy (tr. 2 4:02) but there are also vigorous chafing insect-stridulant voices. The second movement smacks of folk music veering between the Celtic muse and the Appalachian hills. There’s also a Britten-like pizzicato which in this close recording pings in the ears with physical impact. The andante returns to the gloomy undertow of the First Quartet. The finale has the exuberant complexity of the Tippett Concerto for Double String Orchestra as well as the seething weave of insectiform lines. Mathias's last quartet – The Third - was not intended to be his last. He had accepted a commission from the Lindsays but death intervened. The third is in three movements. Lyrical release can be found in the first movement as can springy Tippett-like ideas often set amid potently grave reflective writing. The finale begin dramatically with a sort of suppressed shriek and soon develops a strongly etched rhythmic energy - a rough magic that also ends the piece.

Interesting that all three of these serious works have an Eastern European leaning amid a rooted tonality spiced with dissonance.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

Among the so-varied styles of music being written and constructed today, there remains a vibrant and strong lyrical tradition, focused on the English school. Proving that such work is still fresh and relevant, here are exquisite pieces for clarinet, recorder and string quartet by Robert Crawford and the late John Veale. Modern idioms which also incorporate classical and Romantic traditions. We regret to note that Bob Crawford died on January 26, 2012.

One of Britain's most accomplished, celebrated and prolific composers, Michael Finnissy here plays a programme of works based on folk music from several countries.

In June 2026, Metier proudly presents composer Michael Ellison's ground-breaking set of Three Transcultural Operas: Mevlana (Say I am you), Deniz Kustu (The Sea Crossed Fisherman), and bozlak opera Binbogalar Efsanesi (Legend of a Thousand Bulls), all performed with the Hezarfen Ensemble, the leading Turkish contemporary music ensemble co-founded by Michael Ellison. Ellison spent ten years working in Istanbul and has imbued these operas with an unprecedented level of integration of Turkish culture, music, and traditional instruments, seamlessly blending them with contemporary music in a unique and personal idiom. Ellison's is a music of singing melody, colour, and contrast, evocative atmosphere, and emotional breadth and has been described as "beautifully crafted, robust, and absorbing" by the American Record Guide. A new, 2026 High Resolution edition of Mevlana (originally released in 2014 on Metier) joins the newly recorded performances of Deniz Kustu and Binbogalar Efsanesi to bring together a first complete triptych of operas. Alongside the audio recordings, Metier will release the complete digital video productions of Deniz Kustu and Binbogalar Efsanesi operas recorded at the Istanbul Music Festival. Mevlana (Say I am You) was the first opera to include Turkish instruments and vocal styles, blended here with Western operatic tradition and based on the poetry of Rumi, the historic mystic. This hypnotic work dramatically traces the story of the transformation of Jelaluddin Rumi (Mevlâna) from ordinary scholar to ecstatic mystic at the hands of wandering dervish Shams-i Tabriz and features the dynamic vocal ensemble VocaalLAB Nederland with the Hezarfen Ensemble. Ellison's second and third operas are compelling tales that resonate with the global challenges of today, both adapted from novels by Yasar Kemal and directed for stage by Simon Jones. Powerful and dramatic, Deniz Kustu (The Sea Crossed Fisherman) tells the tragic tale of village-loner Selim and orphaned street-child Zeynel, integrating traditional Turkish instruments, contemporary elements, and Western opera singers. It's shocking events and environmental repercussions reflect our own current concerns. The opera also celebrates Istanbul, it's seas and marine life, contrasting the real and fantastical seascape of the Bosphorus with the dizzying, teeming metropolis of Istanbul and one small fishing village. "The Sea-Crossed Fisherman is an arresting picture of Istanbul, from it's glittering dawns to it's seething underbelly, and Kemal's... lyrical prose is a good fit for the American composer Michael Ellison... " -James Imam, Opera Magazine. Powerful and moving, Binbogalar Efsanesi (Legend of a Thousand Bulls) is based on the masterpiece novel by Yasar Kemal about the decline and disappearance of the last nomads in Turkey, as their millennia-old pastoral way of life is destroyed. The culmination of an 8-year European Research Council project, "Beyond East and West," Binbogalar Efsanesi is a unique work, sung in Turkish and integrates the dramatic, virtuoso style of traditional bozlak Anatolian folk music voices with contemporary language. Hale Tetik, of Andante Magazine, wrote: "The love, sorrow, grief, and rebellion, emanating from the voice of bozlak singer Fatma Aydogan, were engraved in our hearts." Michael Ellison has been commissioned and performed by major orchestras and festivals across Europe and the US, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Variances, Radio France, Grenoble Festival, New York Youth Symphony, Siemens Foundation, amongst many others. He was principal investigator on the European Research Council project Beyond East and West: Developing and Documenting an Evolving Transcultural Musical Practice (2015-2023) and the PI of the AHRC-Istanbul Development Agency supported project Transtraditional Istanbul. He teaches composition at the University of Bristol, England.

In June 2026, Metier Records is proud to present "Infrastructure: The Songs of David Sisco" from the award-winning US composer, featuring over 25 years of his output of art song, performed by pianist David Fung, singers Laura Strickling, Elizabeth Mondragon, Michael Kelly, and David Sisco himself. The album mixes beautiful and thought-provoking settings of both contemporary and historic poetry with entertaining and often touching song cycles based on online posts and reviews, unusual inspirations for art song. David Sisco believes one way the genre can continue to thrive and engage with today's audiences is through the use of contemporary texts, whether by living poets such as the three he has collaborated with here, or from the myriad virtual town halls one encounters on a daily basis. Song cycle Italianate captures the wit and tenderness of his friend Linda Dini Jenkins' poetry about her travels in Italy, and is performed by the "mesmerizing" baritone Michael Kelly, who premiered the cycle in 2014 at Carnegie Hall. Infrastructure by Barbara Worton is performed by the composer himself and was set as a gift for a birthday celebration, perfectly encapsulating a typical New Yorker's skepticism and even a touch of neuroticism. Also performed by David Sisco is Where Memories Go to Die, the final piece in Sisco's song cycle 'Six Dennis Rhodes Poems', and like the poet himself, is a delightful, vulnerable, and joy-filled piece. Turning to writings of past centuries, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Mondragon gives a powerful performance of the stunning setting of Amy Lowell's epic poem Patterns about a woman's loss during the First World War. Michael Kelly returns in My Best Beloved. Sisco was struck by the raw passion of the work of metaphysical poet Francis Quarles and has brought it forward in this gorgeous and sensuous art song. Missed Connections was written for Sisco's longtime muse, Elizabeth Mondragon, and won the 2010 NATS Composition Award. Set to anonymous posts from classified ad website craigslist. Com, these musical vignettes reflect the human desire to find (or avoid) one another and are surprisingly affecting. The Wrong Kind of Fountain Enthusiast is a song cycle set to colourful online reviews across the United States, often savage and hilarious, and, as with Missed Connections, uses a variety of musical idioms. Dear God, a cycle of children's prayers, tenderly captures the delicious mix of simplicity and complexity in these miniature compositions. Both feature the "powerful and expressive voice" (Classical Scene) of soprano Laura Strickling. Throughout the album, the superb voices are supported by the "poetic" (Washington Post) performances of pianist David Fung. David Sisco is an award-winning composer whose vocal and theatrical works have been performed at major venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. He has received commissions from choirs and ensembles across the US. An alumnus of the esteemed BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and the New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio, he currently serves on the adjunct voice faculty at NYU Steinhardt and maintains an international presence as a voice teacher and pedagogue. David Sisco Editorial Review Quotes "David's songs run the gamut from profound to silly, from bittersweet to tragic, from aphorisms to epics. His name belongs alongside the many substantial and important American songwriters working today, including Tom Cipullo, Jake Heggie, and Ricky Ian Gordon. A composer couldn't ask for better interpreters of his work than those on his album. " Michael Brofman-Artistic Director, Brooklyn Art Song Society Infrastructure, The Songs of David Sisco, is a compendium of 43 songs composed by David Sisco over the last 25 years. Whether short (20 seconds) or long (13 minutes), each song reveals a composer extraordinaire. Setting a wide variety of texts, David consistently reveals an unerring instinct for creating a perfect setting - with wonderful pacing, imaginative responses to the texts, a gorgeous melodic sound world, and a superb understanding of how to write for the human voice and for the piano. The performers - baritones Michael Kelly and David Sisco, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Mondragon, soprano Laura Strickling and pianist David Fung, are all brilliant and bring David's music to life with verve and understanding. This is one of the best CDs of vocal music I have ever heard and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Lori Laitman-Composer Infrastructure is refreshing, inspirational, and filled with such profound emotional breadth! As a performer of contemporary music and a teacher who regularly assigns repertoire in my studio, I can confidently say this body of literature has something for everyone. The sheer artistry alone makes it a must-have for your library-it is bound to spark deep discussion and heartfelt emotion. David Sisco is masterful in so many ways, and I am continually fascinated by his ability to weave everyday life into the fabric of our larger existence. The mundane becomes immediately relatable, but his true genius lies in connecting us through the broader meaning behind it. I'd be hard-pressed to choose a single favorite, but a few go-to tracks worth diving into right away: "Patterns" is stunning and mesmerizing; "My Best Beloved" will leave you in awe and immediately trying to program it into an upcoming gig; "Jeff" asks a question of God that makes complete, resonant sense; and "Cistio" offers true solace in the face of the frightening things we cannot change. You won't be sorry! Noélia Archambeault de Hernández-Assoc. Professor of Voice, University of Maryland "David Sisco's album is exquisite. Both the compositions themselves as well as the performances reveal a deep love of poetry as well as more unconventional text sources. His songs are succinct in the extreme, often achingly lyrical, and sometimes utterly hilarious. With "Infrastructure" one has the privilege of taking a deep dive into this vital compositional voice. " Daniel Schlosberg-Collaborative Pianist "This collection, Infrastructure, is a beautiful survey of David's creative output. The musical language is accessible yet sophisticated, drawing on David's expertise in a wide variety of genres. Even in his most concise songs, David manages to craft a vivid, self-contained world that instantly transports the listener. His work, like the composer himself, resonates with charm, empathy and a keen understanding of the human condition. " Jonathan Michie-Baritone David Sisco is one of America's greatest composers of vocal music, and his recent album of songs is an embarrassment of riches. Lyrical, smart, deeply-felt, and constantly surprising, the 43 songs presented are a treasure trove for those who love the marriage of text and music. And the performances by Michael Kelly, Elizabeth Mondragon, Laura Strickling, David Fung, and David Sisco himself are extraordinarily beautiful and committed. This album is not to be missed! Tom Cipullo-Composer

The composer said Music can be defined as a series of proportions in the service of a divine impulse. A philosophy which is shared by composers from Bach to Camilleri, Machaut to Tavener, and which is certainly the ethos of Divine Art Records! While acknowledging the radical experiments of the 1960s and 1970s, Crumb's music became famous for it's instantly recognizable style, integrity and sense of mysticism, and an ability not to alienate audiences.

Belgian flutist Karin de Fleyt is one of the foremost specialists in the flute world. This album contains three contrasting works- one for flute and wind orchestra, one for mixed flutes, clarinets, and piano, and one for solo bass flute. Karin de Fleyt is a fantastic player of flute, alto flute, piccolo, bass flute, bansuri flute, and shakuhachi. She frequently performs experimental music with extended techniques, and is a member of the artistic board in the HERMES Ensemble.

Includes work(s) by Brian Ferneyhough. Ensembles: BBC Singers, Lontano. Conductor: Odaline De la Martinez.

Composer Tristan Murail is without doubt one of the most significant figures in European contemporary music circles, known best perhaps for his being a close follower of Messiaen (his teacher was Jeanne Loriod) and one of the prime instigators of the field of spectral music. Murail says this: ‘Early on, every young composer is confronted with an already existing musical universe. Should he accept it, play according to established and consensual rules, or instead, try to stretch or even break away from them?” His answer is generally, to develop new soundworlds arising out of the old and to concentrate not on the serialism fashionable when he was young, but the essential musical sound, investigating new playing techniques and creating a genre practically his own. Marilyn Nonken’s recording of his complete piano music, issued in 2005, remains one of the regular best sellers in the Metier catalog. This new album reflects on his encounters with Schumann and culminates in his re-interpretation of Kinderszenen where his restrained arrangement stays close (but not too close) to the original – it is also a first class set of performances by a stunning cellist. Marie Ythier is a remarkably fine cellist for whom this is the 5th album. She plays repertoire form all periods, but is particularly interested in new music. She has collaborated with many leading composers, holds several teaching posts and has received numerous prizes. Her playing is assured and deft, equally at home in the Romantic and the avant-garde.

Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" - the 48 Preludes and Fugues, 2 sets in each major and minor key, is one of the cornerstones of the baroque keyboard repertoire. Diana Boyle presents an exceptional account of the second set of 24 pieces, played on a modern Grotrian-Steinweg piano. Her approach to performing this repertoire on a modern piano is astonishing and exciting, bringing the complexity of Bach's writing to the fore.

One of the foremost British ensembles, the Kreutzer specializes in new music and has already made many recordings for Metier and other labels. This superb film is not only the record of brilliant performances of major modern quartets and fine entertainment, it is also a valuable and rewarding tool for observing how the players of an ensemble communicate and interact, especially in works like that of Lutoslawski which allow performers a degree of choice. Above all it is a demonstration that music very often should be seen as well as heard. This disc is universal-play (Region 0) and double sided PAL/NTSC so will play in any country.

This album is devoted to the works of Carson COOMAN, organ scholar at Harvard, and one of the most prolific, inspired and increasingly popular American composers. It contains three short piano solo works and pieces for tuba and piano, trumpet and piano and flugelhorn with harp; the first work is an atmospheric song cycle for soprano with trumpet and piano. These are world premiere recordings.

For most of his life Eric Craven has kept a very low profile, concentrating on his teaching career and quietly developing his 'non-prescriptive' composing method, a sort of aleatory style that allows the performer varying degrees of freedom. His earlier cycle of short pieces, 'SET', was recorded after Craven was persuaded by leading pianists to make his work available. Highly praised, that technique is shown again to great effect in the 'Pieces for Pianists', producing music that is varied, interesting, but perfectly accessible for listener and performer. Volume 1 attracted very positive reviews: "joyous, playful and satisfying music." - New Classics; and we are sure that this second set will find many new fans for this very individual composer.

Mary Dullea is an Irish pianist based in London, who enjoys a very busy career as a soloist and chamber musician and regularly performs and broadcasts in many countries. Her discography is exceptional and demonstrates her support and championing of new music. Her pianism and musicality as well as remarkable virtuosity make her an ideal interpreter. She is also Reader in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Clive Bell is Britain's leading player of the Japanese shakuhachi, and a founder member of Jah Wobble's Deep Space project. DAVID ROSS was drummer for the instrumental combo Kenny Process Team. But none of this would prepare you for Mystery Lights, their first duo recording. This is a spacious, intimate music, full of colour and melody, exploratory but highly accessible. Many instruments, both acoustic and electronic, familiar and unfamiliar, weave a spell hard to resist. This album was made in collaboration with Walter & Donald the budgerigars. Recorded live at "The Earl of Kilgorlin". CD includes a video playable on any PC.

Brian Ferneyhough is well established as one of the leading figures in the avant-garde ‘new complexity’ school. His works, fiercely complex and requiring virtuoso performers, are nevertheless among the most successful in the Métier new music catalog. This album contains all of Ferneyhough’s music for piano from 1965 to 2018 including the Two-Piano Sonata where Ian Pace is joined by Ben Smith. Ian Pace is renowned as a leading interpreter of new piano music and is a virtuoso of the highest order. Also a music philosopher, author and academic researcher, and head of department at City University London, his extremely impressive intellect informs his performances. This album includes a comprehensive and detailed essay on his approach to the music of Ferneyhough of interest to all musicologists. He has given world premieres of over 300 works and recorded 34 albums to date. Ben Smith is a London-based performer and composer specializing in contemporary music. Ben graduated from City, University of London in 2015, and is currently a Junior Fellow at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he previously studied with Laurence Crane, Rolf Hind, and James Weeks. He recently appeared on the new Métier recording of Alastair White’s opera ROBE (MSV 28609).

Howard Skempton has established over the last 50 years a reputation as one of the UK’s most accomplished and internationally-acclaimed composers, with a style which is based on traditional tonality and lyricism; but he also delights in working with unusual instruments and settings, as is clear from this superb new album including music for hurdy-gurdy, viol, medieval harp, accordion and gamelan alongside ‘normal’ contemporary Western instruments. This is probably one of the most individual and striking albums of the year! Founded in 1992, Sirinu is a British ensemble specializing in early and world music, performing and recording music from the 11th century to the present day. The group has appeared at festivals and venues throughout Europe. An important element of its activity is the commissioning of new works for medieval instruments (such as the title track of this album) which directly led to the making of this recording. Founding members Sara Stowe, Matthew Spring and Jon Banks are joined on this recording by contemporary and world music specialists Chris Redgate (oboe), Isabelle Carré (flutes, recorders and gamelan) and Chris Brannick (percussion).

“The unusual combinations of instruments intrigued me. The performers seem very skilled on their various instruments.”
– Henry Fogel (Fanfare)

The 1960s were a period of revolution in classical vocal composition, a time of re-inventing and re-creating the classical voice's sound world that inspired the generation of composers featured on this album. Spear-headed by such imaginative singers as Cathy Berberian and Michiko Hirayama, and inspired by the simultaneous developments in Early Music, technology and an awareness of world music singing styles, the long-established Bel canto singing tradition was extended in new, imaginative and extraordinarily virtuosic ways. This collection is widely diverse in style from the simple (yet so complex) simple vocals by the two American composers, to a variety of extended-technique songs by the notoriously modernist Europeans, Kagel, Scelsi, Bussotti, Nono, Berio, and Castliglioni. fSara Stowe is one of Britain's most versatile and inventive performers with a repertoire ranging from medieval song to the present day. She began studying as a prize-winning harpsichordist and piano scholar at the Royal College of Music. On leaving she decided to pursue singing and studied in Italy where she sang for Luciano Berio and studied Scelsi's vocal music with Michiko Hirayama. In Britain Sara's performances include work with The Academy of Ancient Music, New London Consort, Sirinu, James Wood and the Taverner Consort.

Sam Cave writes in the album notes: "For every note the guitar can play there are an infinite number of tone colors waiting to be coaxed from it's body." This is demonstrated very well in this collection of very new works, which extend the tone palette of the guitar in many ways, from the still, almost mantra-like' Refracted Meditation III by the performer, to complex and thickly-textured works by Fox and Murail, two distinctive sonatas by George Holloway and the almost alien soundworld conjured up by Horatiu Radulescu in the only work which introduces electronics (taped sounds) alongside the pure acoustics of the guitar. The contrast between Cave's sparse, single line interspersed with gentle chords, and Murail's transfer of spectral cluster technique, is exceptional. Sam Cave is quickly becoming established as one of the leading exponents of new music for guitar, with performances at leading venues around the UK and Europe. He has performed dozens of world premieres in the last decade as soloist and as a member of the Octandre Ensemble. As a composer, his works have been performed in eight countries by some of the most exciting soloists and ensembles of today. Sam plays a 'super-concert' guitar by Dutch luthier Jerome Hilhorst.

For many years Craven has exclusively focused his attention upon the techniques associated with his Non-Prescriptive style of music which, in essence, seeks to realign the relationship between composer and performer. On the rare occasions that his music has been performed live, it has been received with great appreciation by the audiences and artists involved. A sought-after interpreter of new music, Mary Dullea has been the curator of Soundings, an annual UK/Austrian collaborative new music festival, since 2008 and in February 2015 will serve on the jury of “Schubert und die Musik der Moderne” International Chamber Music Competition in Graz, Austria.

Eric Craven is like no other composer - both because for most of his life, he has been a recluse from the musical establishment while living out his role as family man and teacher, and also because his compositional technique is his alone. Aleatory in general principle but more complex, his works contain elements of both high-order and low-order 'non-prescriptive' writing - in other works varying degrees of flexibility allowed to the performer. Totally abstract in form and concept, though inspired by a principle (here, the particle entanglement in Quantum Mechanics), the pieces, especially 'low-order' where the score is more prescribed, can take on the appearance of other forms such as baroque fugue, romantic prelude or even soft jazz. Moreover the music is hardly ever 'challenging' for the listener, with quasi-tonal, melodic flow. In many ways Craven is laying down a new direction for piano composition. Mary Dullea in her third album of Craven's music demonstrates her amazing pianistic prowess but also her perceptivity and understanding of the scores which she realises in full showing wonderful expertise in interpretation. Dullea, as both solo artist and member of the Fidelio Trio, is becoming one of the 'must-hear' pianists in the contemporary music world.

This CD features some of the most distinctive personalities in the contemporary New York scene including the legendary Daniel Carter (sax, trumpet) who has been a leading light in the avant-garde since the early 70s and has featured on well over 100 recordings. Claire DeBrunner is an accomplished bassoonist with a classical as well as jazz training, and is one of very few musicians to play the bassoon in improvisational music. Ken Silverman plays guitar and hand percussion, and bassist Tom Zlabinger is an ever present in the free jazz worlds of New York and Vienna. (Detailed bios: click 'artist profile' above). on this album the quartet aim to create a freely improvised chamber-music-like sound without drums, allowing for total rhythmic flexibility and sonic complexity. Although the music can become intense it's general tendency is towards the delicate, subtle and intimate. A warm sound for warm evenings.

Metier’s top line release for 2015 is this program which may be the first ‘music DVD’ devoted to contemporary percussion works. More than that, it has been produced with stunning graphics and visual enhancements as well as ‘straight’ video of the performances thanks to the work of top Danish movie director Christian Holten Bonke. The program includes the most iconic of modern percussion classics, ‘Psappha’ by Iannis Xenakis, together with his much more recent ‘Rebonds’. Works by Henze, Donatoni and Ferneyhough utilize wide ranges of tuned and unturned instruments, while the pieces by Jodlowski and Globokar use different materials altogether. Even for the non-percussion fan, the film is one to watch again and again. Mathias Reumert is one of Europe’s foremost percussionists, having been awarded the DanishMusic Critics’ Prize for 2015.

Michael Finnissy is one of the acknowledged geniuses in the field of new music, with a style which can be exceptionally adventurous (and difficult) but almost always retains a tonal core which reveals his myriad influences and inspirations often from folk music and classic literature. Of the current recordings in our catalog, those featuring works for string quartet, with or without other instruments, have been the most regularly popular. Here we welcome back the Kreutzer Quartet, one of London’s premiere ensembles, together with leading clarinetist (and Principal of the Royal Northern College of Music), Linda Merrick. This is the 13th in the Métier Finnissy series, celebrating the work of one of today’s leaders in the new-music world. The album contains the Clarinetten-Liederkreis (‘Clarinet Song Cycle) which features Merrick; the other works are all for string quartet. Included is Finnissy’s ‘continuation’ (not ‘completion!) of Bach’s unfinished final part of The Art of Fugue. A spellbinding and astonishingly perfect piece of four part counterpoint which extends and stretches Bach’s structures.

American composer Joshua Fineberg has long been a leading light in the younger generation of composers of spectral music, following the Messiaen-Murail school; more recently he has turned to a different aspect of composition which he terms Sonic Fiction – a complex concept but which stresses the abstract music as creating its own ‘fiction’ story and world –perhaps the antithesis of impressionism and program music. On this new album, recorded in France, Germany and the USA, four major works are presented by exceptional performers all very highly regarded on the international stage – from virtuoso accordionist Pascal Contet to the renowned Arditti Quartet. The album is supported by (among others) the Ditson Fund, Columbia University.