Ian Mitchell is a leading performer on all members of the clarinet family and has made recordings with most of them. He has also led Gemini for many years, bringing the ensemble to the top of the tree especially in contemporary chamber music. This album of works for clarinet and strings arose from a prize in the 1993 Prudential Awards, which provided initial funding to record three major but neglected works, by Cyril Scott, Howard Skempton and Rebecca Clarke, together with more recent pieces by Sadie Harrison and Nicola LeFanu and jazz legend Tony Coe. This is not a clarinet feature disc however, but a program of fine works involving that instrument 'in the mix'. Added to the album as a bonus is Skempton's Gemini Dances which adds flute, piano and percussion. Gemini has a very strong following for both recordings and concerts, and since it's formation in 1974 has developed a reputation for the highest levels of musicianship and immense support for contemporary composers.

The Metier label continues a very strong commitment to the music of Finnissy with this latest recording. “Unknown Ground” was written in ‘89/’90 and has received several performances since. “A propos de Nice” is a scoring for the 1930 Jean Vigo silent film of the same name. “Kritik der Urteilskratt” or “Critique of Judgment” and draws its inspiration from the work of Kant.

NIcholas Sackman's music is not limited by particular stylistic lines but within the freedom of contemporary expression uses traditional qualities of harmony, pitch and rhythm to engage with the performer and listener. More simply, just really good music.

Fine chamber music by Priaulx Rainier and Sadie Harrison, played by some of the UK's top contemporary music performers. "The recording is immediate and yet spacious. The performances seem to be to be exemplary, often brilliant. The presentation of this disc is first class." - Garry Higginson (MusicWeb)

A recital of works for flute and piano by British composers, this CD includes world premier recordings (the pieces by Saxton, Buteerworth and Lock) and introduces music that will undoubtedly enter the standard repertoire. An essential reference point in modern flute music.

Edward Harper was also the director of the New Music Group as well as being a fine composer, as is his contemporary Lyell Cresswell. Jane Manning is acknowledged as one of the world's leading singers of new music.

Wonderfully evocative British choral music written recently, from three fine but lesser-known composers and the better-known Michael Berkeley. For the Williamson Missa Tertia, the singers are joined by the Choir of St. Mary Magdalene, Oxford.

A most remarkable CD, demonstrating the real avant-garde in vocal music, requiring phenomenal levels of vocal virtuosity. The performance by Clare Lesser is awesome and an object lesson in how to interpret challenging material.

This album is important musically and culturally, presenting chamber works for strings by two leading Iranian composers. Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour specializes in music that reaches across time and place and is truly international, and he has worked with orchestras and artists in the UK, Denmark and Turkey as well as his home country. Presented here are his 'Broken Times' for string quartet and 'Pendar' for solo violin. Fozi� (or Fozieh) Majd is a remarkable composer who also writes for an international audience, having had success all around Europe in concert and with music for film. As a female living under the Iranian regime since the 1979 revolution she has spent much time teaching and collecting folk tunes from the provinces as well as promoting her works in the USA and Europe. The album includes her wonderful Dreamland Quartet and Far�ghi (In Absentia) for violin and cello. The quartet of performers is made up of four leading string players from the UK including Darragh Morgan who is also leader of the Fidelio Trio; Patrick Savage, former first violin of the Royal Philharmonic (also an acclaimed composer of film music); Fiona Winning, formerly principal viola of the RPO and in-demand freelancer; and Deirdre Cooper, currently principal cellist with l'Orchestre des jardins musicaux in Switzerland.

Sadie Harrison's music is instantly recognizable from that of any other composer of her generation. She has a potent sense of instrumental color and a distinctive rhythmic vigor permeates all of her output. Here a program of her exotic chamber music is presented by leading musicians in the contemporary music field.

In 2012 Metier released its first DVD, titled ‘Quartet Choreography’ which was not only a rare visual release of modern string quartets, but also a study in how great chamber musicians communicate in subtle ways, giving each other cues and leads, even more important in contemporary works with aleatory or ‘optional’ sections. The audio version of the album has been available as a digital download for a while and now has been released on a medium price CD. The Kreutzer Quartet is one of the premier quartets in Europe and every year gaining more of a reputation for the championing of contemporary composers while not ignoring the classical and Romantic repertoire. Performers on the release are Peter Sheppard Skærved, Mihailo Trandafilovsky, Morgan Goff (viola) and Neil Heyde.

With rhythms simultaneously complex and simple, the music of Ed Hughes has a sound all of it's own. This set features first recordings of many of Hughes' most prominent works, performed by the New Music Players and New Music Vocal Ensemble, groups founded by the composer, and pianist Richard Casey in the extended (38 minute) piano cycle Orchids. The vocal ensemble present a Buried Flame, a major choral work of 25 minutes' duration. Distinctive, original and yet extremely approachable, this is modern music as it should be.

Rhona Clarke is one of the Irish composers living in a shadow - the perception that Irish music consists only of stepdancing, jigs and reels. Our ongoing series of Irish music albums should demonstrate that fallacy. Clarke's work is eclectic, brilliant and vaired - from relatively "tough" constructs to quite tonal works with influences of jazz. Her Piano Trio No. 2 appeared on the previous Metier release "Dancing in Daylight", prompting one review to hope for a whole album devoted to her work - here it is. As well as three full pieces for Piano Trio, there are three for members of the ensemble. Apart from the said No. 2 Trio, all the works here are receiving the first recording. The Fidelio Trio continues to gain an ever more positive reputation as one of Europe's most skillfull and innovative ensembles, and is also gaining quite a following in the USA.

This is a unique release from Metier, that consists of three solo works, for clarinet, cello and oboe, which combine to form one multilayered composite work for the trio (TIDE). James Weeks's music has been performed by many of the top ensembles and soloists in Britain. He is the Artistic Director of EXAUDI and maintains a busy international touring schedule with the ensemble. The performers here are at the absolute top of their respective trees: CHristopher Redgate, arguably the world's no. 1 oboist in contemporary music; Anton Lukoszevieze (Cello) and Andrew Sparling (Clarnet) are likewise incredibly talented and leading edge musicians. The music itslef is very advanced and contemproary but also amazingly addictive and listenable.

This double album presents several works by Burgess, along with music for recorder and piano by 15 other composers. All of these works are world premiere recordings and include music by such eminent names as Alan Rawsthorne and Matysa Seiber, and a clutch of young talented Brits and more senior composers whose names are not yet as widely known.