‘Anger produces menacing sounds. But the voice of tenderness is softer,’ wrote French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and much the same could be said of the diverse music on this second volume of American percussion music. It ranges from Elliott Carter’s enigmatic Tintinnabulation for unpitched percussion instruments to Fred Lerdahl’s high-spirited The First Voices, from Edward Cohen’s gamelan-inspired Acid Rain and Peter Child’s clangorous Refrain to John Harbison’s Cortège, a loving and sometimes angry tribute to his late friend, the composer Donald Sur. New England Conservatory is the USA’s oldest independent school of music and is recognized internationally as a leader among music schools.