Cem Guney

2015 release **

"Pieces  written for a sextet of flute, clarinet, percussion (quiet, white-noisy/rattley-type things), violin, viola and cello. They each follow a similar pattern, presenting a solitary idea – a chord, an instrumental texture – that alternates with short silences and gradually evolves with each return. The first, two and three, is almost like breathing. The sounds themselves are beautifully and carefully devised, particularly the gently descending peals in mulberry grove, but it is impossible to inuit how much is specified (and in what manner) and how much is realised by the players. For the most part the musicians are playing as an ensemble, more or less coordinated and to more or less the same rhythm. (The playing, incidentally, is utterly gorgeous, limpid, rich, but impressing itself on the recording space just enough.) Some stretches are conceivably Christian Wolff-ish; others, such as the relatively elaborately structured hive mind, are presumably written out in some detail. "