New from Poland - Kwartluaium

DUX 0808 TT: 53 mins

Yesterday, reviewing some amazing early music CDs; today, on UK's (& the World's ?) Royal Wedding Day, a remarkably innovative and enjoyable CD from Poland's Dux label, with as bonus our belated discovery of "beatboxing" - a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one's mouth, lips, tongue and voice.

Familiar in the newest ever changing pop-world, this vocal genre, which demands arduous practice, may be less so to M P's readers?

Think of Stockhausen's Stimmung and Tuvan throat singing for a start; these young Polish exponents of cutting edge contemporary music have brough the skills to a fine level and integrate it with a variety of new instrumental techniques, all explored through a fascinating sequence of original pieces in a variety of styles and methods of sound production.

Perhaps don't start with Track 1; Blechauz's dense score might be too much of a shock, though I found it grew in interest and respect as one listened. Most of the music is sensitive to timbre and atmosphere.

The notes are very extensive and clear enough, though help from an English-speaking national might have helped, as always.

Well worth a try, recommended.

Peter Grahame Woolf