URSULA MAMLOK (b.1923): Confluences for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano, 2000 Notes for Piano, Polyphony I for Clarinet, From My Garden for Viola, Rhapsody for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, String Quartet No. 1 (Armida Quartet).

Description: Based on the repertoire of a ninetieth birthday concert for the composer, this disc offers a comprehensive cross-section of her mature works from the 1960s onward, after she adopted dodecaphony and adapted it for her own purposes, with rich chordal harmony and a strong sense of tonal centers. A poetic miniaturist, Mamlok writes succinct, highly expressive pieces full of character, from the rather tonal-sounding aphorisms of 2000 Notes to the 'polyphony' of interlocking solo lines in Polyphony I - very much like Carter's late miniatures - to the tension between and almost, but not quite, resolution of opposing ideas in the Rhapsody and Confluences. Speculum Concerts Berlin.