Cathal Roche (saxophones), RTÉ Vanbrugh String Quartet Limb from Limb Records LfL003 ***

The Book of Ways

is a freely interactive, collaborative work, as the wording on the cover makes clear. It’s not by Ian Wilson, but rather by “Ian Wilson in collaboration with Cathal Roche and the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet”. Saxophonist Roche used the hexagrams of the

I Ching

or

Book of Changes

to suggest fingerings for improvisations, Wilson notated “a series of phrases and motifs relating specifically to each hexagram (culled from Roche’s improvisations)”, and the quartet make individual and collective choices from Wilson’s offerings as they work with the saxophone through the 10 hexagrams that feature in the piece. The CD includes two complete performances, each with its own sequencing of the hexagrams. The improvisatory style does include moments of banal doodling, but also some fascinating oriental evocations and microtonal scrunches.