Cliona Doris (concert harp)

One associates the concert harp with lush arpeggios and rich glissandi; but nothing could be sparer than Ian Wilson's new work, in blue sea or sky. It alters its harmonies so frequently that there is no time to linger over passing concordances, which end with single notes disappearing off the top of the instrument's range. The title refers to pictures by Cy Twombly, in which it is not clear whether the ostensible subjects, boats, are floating in the sea or the sky. The music moves between the two elements with easy freedom; nothing much happens, the movement is all.

After Wilson's work, the Three Japanese Sketches by the Swiss Julien-Francois Zbinden, although actually quite restrained, sounds almost alarmingly extrovert and colourful. Despite the title, there is nothing oriental about the music; it sits comfortably in the Romantic tradition.

Britten's Suite, although conventionally laid out, is much more adventurous. In this, as in the other works, Cliona Doris shows an unaffected technical mastery.