During his long and fertile career, Paul Lansky (b1944) has explored a vast array of styles and techniques, from computer music to the percussion works on this new album. The recording is a testament to both the composer’s creative imagination and the devotion to his art by Bridge Records: it is the label’s 18th volume of Lansky’s music. These particular pieces provide ample evidence to justify the loyalty. They are irresistible narratives, full of glistening textures and deft layering of thematic and harmonic ideas, thanks in part to the nuanced performances by percussionist Gwendolyn Dease and friends.

Lansky’s fascination with percussion instruments goes back more than three decades in works either for one player negotiating multiple challenges or various deployments of percussion with other instruments. In the former category is Metal Light (2017) for solo vibraphone and small percussion set, which finds Dease fielding 16 mallets to make contact with distinctive surfaces in bell-like passages and crystalline interactions. Patterns (in wood and metal) (2011) takes a quartet of mallet players through meditative and playful activity, the musicians occasionally chattering as they wend their way through an exhilarating sonic journey.

As the composer states of Hop (1993): ‘The title comes from watching the duo as they virtually dance to engage the textures of the piece.’ Minus the visual aspect as offered here, the score emerges as a frisky conversation between marimba and violin (Dease and Yvonne Lam, seamlessly conferring) in which rhythmic and thematic material is shared, debated and energised.

The most expansive piece, in every way, is Touch and Go (2012), an entrancing three-movement concerto for percussionist and wind ensemble that has an almost cinematic sense of momentum and atmosphere. The vitality of the opening ‘Tap’ gives way to the songfulness of ‘Stroke’ and whimsical percussion acrobatics and ensemble colours of ‘Tag’. Dease plays the solo part with exceptional point and nimble finesse, and she collaborates closely with the first-rate Michigan State University Wind Ensemble under Kevin Sedatole.