HORATIU RADULESCU (1942-2008): Edition Radulescu 1 - Piano Sonatas No. 2, Op. 82 “being and non-being create each other” and No. 5, Op. 106 “settle your dust, this is the primal identity”, String Quartet No. 5, Op. 89 “before the universe was born”.

Description: 'Can you coax your mind from its wandering and keep to the original oneness?' Well, can you? The twenty-nine linked sections of Radulescu's quartet all bear superscriptions from the Tao te Ching like that one. This, and the scordatura tuning, extended harmonics, multiphonics and unusual bowing techniques, resulting in spectralist timbres and a virtual ensemble of conjured wind and electronic instruments, immerse the listener in the 'endless ocean of vibrations' the exploration of which has been the composer's preoccupation since the 1970s. The piano sonatas, although they bear similar philosophical inscriptions and are based on unusual modes with spectralist overtones and complex number-pattern based rhythms, are more conventional. Much of the time the repeated, dissonant, coloristic chords recall Messiaen and bell sounds, and the Fifth even contains clear allusions to Rumanian folk music. The energetic, eastern-European ecstatic dances in this work make it one of Radulescu's most approachable, with no compromise of his mystical message