Thomas Larcher: Böse Zellen; Still; Madhares

Till Fellner (piano), Kashkashian (viola), Thomas Larcher (piano), Münchener Kammerorchester/Dennis Russell Davies, Quatuor DiotimaECM New Series 476 3651 ***

Austrian composer Thomas Larcher’s Böse Zellen (Malign Cells) is for piano and orchestra, but doesn’t sound at all like a concerto. For a start, the piano is prepared to produce a range of un piano-like sounds.

And the overall effect is like a kind of musical analogue to a ridiculously long shot by the soaring, swooping camera of an experimental film director, the wheeling and diving used to create a continuous experience out of highly disparate worlds.

There’s an improvisatory air to it all, which is even more pronounced in Still (for viola, piano and orchestra) and Madhares (for string quartet). Larcher has a wonderful ear for colour and texture, but in these last two works things are just that bit too eclectic. See naxosdirect.ie