Night Music

Hilliard Ensemble, Ivan Monighetti (cello), Lydia Kavina (theremin), Dublin Guitar Quartet, EQ Ensemble/Jean Thorel LCMS 1201****

Louth Contemporary Music Society's latest CD has music by composers Iraida Yusupova, Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh and Sofia Gubaidulina, who were all born in the then the Soviet Union but whose birthplaces would be given as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Tatarstan. You could describe the works as mood pieces. Yusupova's Kitezh-19evokes resonances of invisible and closed cities. Yanov-Yanovsky's Night Music: Voice in the Leavespits ruminative solo cello against often spaced-out commentary from ensemble and tape – but his Morningnever seems to cohere fully. Ali-Zadeh's Ask Havasifinds solo cello in ecstatic mode. Gubaidulina's Repentancerevels in the combination of unusual instrumental sonorities and the pleasures of parallel movement, including Hawaiian guitar effects. louthcms.org