American composer Roger Reynolds is an artist of rare imagination and conviction. This powerful new disc of his music is almost overwhelming in its intensity, but rewards concentrated listening.

WISDOM’s Sources was written in 2024 and is scored for violin and viola duo. Conceived by Reynolds during the early months of the pandemic, the work explores the notion of ‘wisdom’ in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. Cast in three parts, the work draws on Ancient Greek philosophy and Tamil religious thinking, with its third and final part taking flight from W.E.B Du Bois’s 1903 essay collection The Souls of Black Folk. Reynolds’s complex score demands a dazzling range of sonic effects from the two musicians, including some deeply affecting use of voice. Irvine Arditti (violin) and Ralf Ehlers (viola) give two powerhouse performances which embrace the intricacy and precision of the work while also giving free voice to its explosive intensity.

There follows ‘O’o, a substantial one-movement work scored for flute and string quartet. Written in 2018, the piece takes as its starting point the plight of the last surviving pair of ‘o‘o birds – a now-extinct species of Hawaiian honeyeater. Eschewing any hint of sentimentality, the work moves from pointillistic scatterings of tones towards a more sustained and lyrical texture. The work’s depth and power is matched at every turn by outstanding performances from flautist Robert Aitken and the Bruno/Lee/McLeod/Rutt Quartet.

This is a disc conceived and performed with integrity and mastery. Highly recommended.