The music of American composer Lewis Nielson can be associated with European composers like Helmut Lachenmann or Salvatore Sciarrino, while forging a distinctive approach to form that is at once lyrical, sensitive and somehow picturesque. Nielson, now Professor of Composition at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, is highly regarded by his colleagues and students. This is proven by the stellar performers here, including Steven Schick and the JACK Quartet. Axis, for solo percussion and string quintet, is a nearly constant swirl of sound, pixilated into discrete gestures. Tocsin is for six percussionists. The arresting synchronicity heard at the opening (and several times again over the course of the work) is intended to index the sound of a crowd at the verge of popular revolution. The crowd, as we can hear, repeatedly takes shape only to collapse and cool off into contrapuntal pattering; again gathering their strength to reassemble only to inevitably collapse back into idle murmurings. Le Journal du corps for string quartet, begins with minutes of collaged schizophrenia followed by striking moments of harmonic repose and the elegant stillness of non-vibrato chords. Nielson’s striking decision has the string players sing just four minutes before the ending; amateur voices from the professional string quartet.

All first recordings.