Antiphysis; Funérailles Versions I & II; Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco; Arcus

The pieces by Dufourt, Ferneyhough and Höller are all worthwhile explorations of their own musical universes, and of course Dufourt was one of the key voices in French spectralism. But standing head and shoulders above those works is Jonathan Harvey’s breathtaking “Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco.” It’s a tape work that draws from two sound sources, the voice of chorister Dominic Harvey (the composer’s son), and the tenor bell of Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, England. While one can’t really have the full experience unless the piece is experienced ‘octophonically’ – i.e. an eight-channel projection into an auditorium, so you feel you’re inside the bell itself – it’s still a startling composition that tangles your ears with glistening sonority, while the warping, weaving tones prickle the skin.