Various performers Wergo WER 6729 2****

Viktor Ekimovsky's The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin(1989), for percussion ensemble, is almost tentatively soft, the delicately chiming sounds reminiscent of the world of American experimentalist Harry Partch. His Symphonic Dances(1993), with solo piano embedded rather than standing out, are a seething mass, as if the dissonant extremes of Edgard Varèse had been stirred and swirled and darkened. Ekimovsky, who's now 64, has been seeking to make each new work as new as possible in as many ways as possible and to provide background narratives for the benefit of listeners. This selection, finely played by Russian performers, including the Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble, also includes The Mirror of Avicenna(darkness into light), 17 Destructions(for drumming percussion) and Attalea Princeps(a thumping violin concerto with dominant soloist). See wergo.de