I had never heard of Roger Reynolds (born 1934) before, but there and again, there are many US composers that I have not heard of. He has made a creative career of out of blending traditional musical sounds with sounds that are of a technological nature, and often not of a musical nature. Music, like all art forms, and indeed all human endeavours, is something that is constantly evolving and frequently requires new ways of performing, extending techniques well and beyond what is traditional, and training our ears to listen in entirely different ways, both as performers and listeners.

The first of the two works on this disc, Wisdom’s Sources, was written in 2023-24 and is a response to the isolation, anxiety and disassociation that the composer felt during the COVID epidemic. It was written for Irvine Arditti and a friend of the violinist, Ralf Ehlers.

The first part is dedicated to the first play in Aeschylus’ Oresteiatrilogy, Agamemnon, and draws on a fragment of ancient Greek chorus melody as reconstructed by the Oxford classicist Armand D’Angour. The movement employs vocalisation as well as instrumental playing by the two performers.

Whilst the music is frequently dissonant, it is not overbearingly so. Be warned though that sometimes the vocal exclamations can come quite suddenly and will take you by surprise. A wide range of vocalisations are employed, including growls, howls and short utterances, and the movement is strangely compelling.

The second part is dedicated to the Buddhist Thirukkural and incorporates phrases from John Cage’s Eight Whiskus for solo violin. This requires quiet contemplative listening, as the writing is often quite nebulous, some beautiful sounds are produced, and the work starts very simply with just a single melodic line from which other sounds emerge, sometimes coming off at a tangent, and at others blending into the whole thread. There are times when this is very simple and open, and others where activity and tension increase quite dramatically.

To quote from the booklet, which is very comprehensive and fills in a lot of background :

The third part traces the endless cycles of hope and disappointment following Emancipation depicted so movingly by Du Bois. Drawing on his discussions with George Lewis, Reynolds interpreted this cruel rhythm as a binary of the endless trial of ascent versus the release of obligation in descent – a Sisyphean image of struggle and clarity. It opens with vocalisation from both performers, and there are constant references to Robert Johnson’s ‘Cross Country Blues’.

I find this the most unified of the three parts and perhaps the easiest to fully appreciate.

Overall this was quite fascinating and the performers certainly do this difficult work justice and produce a compelling performance which is detailed and full of interest.

The second work, ‘O’o, for flute and string quartet, grew out of a conversation the composer had with a long standing friend and colleague, the flautist Robert Aitken, who lamented the lack of music for flute and string quartet. In 2018, Roger Reynolds produced this work inspired by the tragic story of the Hawaiian Honey Eater bird which was now extinct. Sadly the male bird survived his mate by a number of years and was constantly calling to her, in the vain hope that she would answer, thus coming to the end of a sad and lonely existence. The composer was able to listen to recordings of the birds, transcribe the calls accurately, played by the flute, and around which the string instruments add additional texture and movement. The work takes about twenty minutes to perform and is a poignant tribute to a pair of birds lost to this world forever. The sadness and desolation of the final section are palpable with the plaintive cry of the male being repeated and repeated.

I find this disc quite compelling. The performers really are committed and rise to the considerable challenges of this music. It will not appeal to everyone, but I think the composer is a rare talent.