From the mid-1970s onwards, music for solo instruments has been one of Ferneyhough’s central preoccupations. Though all of this music has been recorded before (indications to the contrary notwithstanding), this CD fills a gap in the catalogue. The works dating from the 1970s (the Time and Motion Studies for bass clarinet and cello with electronics, and Unity Capsule for flute) represent the composer at his most demanding. The performance of the bass clarinet piece may be singled out for its almost explosive vigour; the two other interpretations are perhaps not quite so arresting, though the music certainly is. Representing one of Ferneyhough’s rare forays into electro-acoustics, the cello piece is also one of his most disturbing scores. Given the nearly inhuman (rather than merely superhuman) demands placed on the performer, the listener may be forgiven for wondering whether the audible breathing is also stipulated in the score; in fact it is not, and in places it detracts from the very depersonalization that is central to this difficult piece.
By comparison, Bone Alphabet (percussion) and Kurze Schatten II (guitar – both works date from the last decade) seem almost relaxed in tone. Here again the performances are of a very high standard; the guitar’s crystalline qualities are more audibly detailed than on Magnus Andersson’s recent reading. Bone Alphabet is very well judged, though the tin-can sound of one of the instruments chosen (this is left to the performer) becomes wearing rather than bracing, despite its less frequent use. As with many all-Ferneyhough discs, then, a mixed bag in performance terms; but the best things are splendid.'