FRANCIS BAYER (b.1938): 5 Essais for Piano, Flute and Cello, Triptyque for Soprano and Ondes Martenot, Episode for 2 Pianos, Marimba and Vibraphone, Perspectives for Cello.

Description: Turning to a career in composition relatively late, Bayer studied with Dutilleux, whose influence on the early Essais can be felt in their motivic precision and finely judged timbral atmosphere, though not so much in the angry young man's cluster-driven climax to the first, or the expanded playing techniques of the third. A few years later, the Triptyque examines the encounter between solo voice and the Ondes Martenot, sometimes appearing in the guise of rudimentary keyboard instrument, at others as lyrically expressive as the voice (which is also required to venture outside normal singing techniques to encompass various other types of vocal gestures). Episode, a much later work, progresses from a fragmented, largely atonal opening toward a more consonant close, incorporating conversational interchanges between the pianos (one of which is played by direct contact on the strings only) and the two percussion instruments. Perspectives introduces and integrates a wide range of musical 'personages' of different timbral and musical character, employing every aspect of the cello's expressive capabilities, both conventionally and unconventionally played. Ensemble Tetra. 1996 release.