Lancino: Violin Concerto, Prelude and Death of Virgil. Isabelle Faust (violin), Matteo di Monti (baritone). Naxos CD
After initial plaudits for electro acoustics, he recently extended his vision as a composer and concentrated on lyrical, colourful music.
German-born violinist Isabelle Faust revels in the enterprising explorations of his concerto (2005) in which the composer indulged in ''all sorts of extravagant impulses''.
It is not ultra-modern but he imagined ''a little piece of wood'' (in reality a 1704 Stradivarius) ''confronting a gigantic machine'' (the full orchestra).
Three movements steadily shrink in length. An impressive cadenza is included and many other virtuoso passages with crystal-bright harmonics abound.
The orchestra is the Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg, conducted by Arturo Tamayo.
The second item is the Prelude and Death of Virgil (2000), featuring Dutch baritone Matteo di Monti with the National Orchestra of France conducted by Gerard Schwarz.
(Virgil was the great Roman poet who wrote the monumental Aeneid.)
Marc Gauton composed a libretto for Lancino for an opera that was not completed but gave rise to this 26-minute, four-part work.
Singing is confined to the third and longest part ''The Death of Virgil'', and is in a loud style as the music gets wilder.
It is preceded by the long opening ''prelude'' with groaning brass and shimmering cymbals prominent in the eerie effects, this followed by a dark ''interlude'' where the strings have full play, The ''postlude'' ends an interesting tribute to a Roman poet given mythical stature.
Highlight: A new, excellent violin concerto.
