Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Salve regina for male chorus and ensemble (2005) takes the form of a processional, the text set to archaic-sounding lines punctuated by a drum, and recalling Pärt and Tormis (but also late Britten at times). Its calm, not-quite-liturgical atmosphere contrasts with the glittering marimba concerto Ardor (2001-02), which runs for over 26 minutes, making it probably the largest solo work for this instrument. Varied and evocative, full of fascinating sonorities, Ardor is motoric and eruptive in the outer spans, contemplative but still volatile at the centre. Pedro Carneiro, the dedicatee, plays with commendable authority and virtuosity. The composer describes this concerto as a transitional work away from his older style – represented by the haunting cello-and-piano Dedication (1990) – to ones based “on different premises”, in which both voice-leading and interval sequences are based on vectors or numerical codes. These “different premises” are heard best in the title-track, Oxymoron for large ensemble (2003), the oxymoron represented by the contradictions of vertical and linear within the piece plus, in the composer’s own description, “the majestic panorama of the Alps, that enormous ocean of congealed rocky waves”.

The works on this fourth ECM release devoted to Tüür’s music are certainly executed with commitment and skill, and ECM’s sound is, as usual, first-rate. They present a spectrum of the composer at his most recent; but for such a polystylistic creator one does not really gain a sense of who the real Tüür is.