The heyday of electroacoustic composition, arguably from the 1950s to the 1970s when it was a vital strand of avant-garde music, may have passed but the tradition continues to flourish. Early pioneers such as Pierre Schaeffer, Varèse, Cage and Stockhausen may have left us but others have continued to explore electroacoustic music production into the present century, such as Mario Davidovsky, who died in 2019. James Dashow, 10 years Davidovsky’s junior, is another such, who continues to produce vital and intriguing new music in this medium.

Just as Davidovsky’s major contribution could be said to be his groundbreaking Synchronisms series, so Dashow has been working similarly on an evolving series called Soundings in Pure Duration. The first, for hexaphonic electronic sounds only, dates from 2003 but most of its nine successors are duets for a solo instrument and the electronic component, performed by the composer. The works can then be heard as a series of sonatas (in the loosest sense of the term) or fantasias not unlike pieces from the Classical or Romantic eras; in place of a piano or harpsichord, Dashow just uses quadraphonic or octophonic accompaniments instead.

The first six Soundings were issued on a Neuma disc some time ago, one that seems not to be currently available, alas. Well done to Ravello, then, for picking up the slack in issuing Nos 7‑10, available digitally or physically as a surround-sound (5.0) DVD. They range in duration from the 11 minutes of No 7 (2014), featuring Enzo Filippetti’s coruscating alto saxophone, to the electronic solo of No 10 (2020), running in at over 33 compelling minutes. Both chart extraordinary expressive journeys over their very different time frames. The Eighth (2015‑16) is a cantata for Nicholas Isherwood and electronics, a really vibrant, vigorous setting of Stephen Dobyns’s poem ‘Art Et Al’. Best of all, though, is Manuel Zurria’s haunting bass flute in No 9 (2016‑17). I will be revisiting these.