Between the poles, Alexei Lubimov finds an introspection and immediacy that makes the scattered lengthy silences as disruptive as the sounds they appear to contradict, leaving the listener as it were alone with the dancers’ shuffling and breathing. It’s a suitably unsettling experience, heightened by the brief, yearning contribution of solo soprano Marianne Pousseur.

Four Walls on record has a high calibre...but Lubimov’s account, now available on Fuga Libera, should be the definitive recording for a while. Lubimov shows exemplary range.

thanks to the persuasive skills of the pianist Alexei Lubimov (last in the headlines in April when police terminated a concert in Moscow that featured music by the Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov), Cage’s neglected creation is still able to cast a cool and cockeyed spell.