Nono ‘for beginners’ might seem an unlikely prospect given the uncompromising nature of his music‚ but this new disc fits the bill admirably. Not that the works featured are at all ‘easy’‚ but they form a representative cross­section of the composer’s non­vocal music at its consistent best. Variazioni canoniche (1950) is a remarkable composing début‚ enriching its serial framework with an Italianate sensuousness of sound and a Schoenbergian variety of incident. Mario Venzago brings a palpable sense of anticipation to the subdued Largo and martial Andante‚ then maintains tension through the violent Allegro and the varied expression of the closing Lento. Michael Gielen has comparable intensity‚ but the claustrophobic live ambience has nothing like the new recording’s dynamic range. Surprisingly‚ given its influence on composers from Xenakis to Birtwistle‚ this is the first modern recording of Incontri (1955) – scintillating ‘encounters’ for an ensemble of Varèsian impact. Complex‚ but not as inscrutable as Varianti (1957). This discourse for violin‚ strings and woodwind was written for the great Rudolf Kolisch‚ whose pitching must have sorely tested by the myriad timbral inflections and harmonics introduced into the dense musical fabric. Mark Kaplan meets the challenge unabashed. By contrast‚ the Tarkovsky tribute (1987) feels effortless in the ethereal nature of its expression and unlimited sense of space. As with all of Nono’s work from the 1980s‚ intensity is turned inward to an unprecedented degree as listeners are forced to make their own path through the barely perceptible onward motion. Like Gielen but unlike Abbado‚ Venzago unflinchingly sustains a vastly slow tempo – his performance enhanced by sound which gives the music essential room to breathe. With informative – and readably translated – notes from Venzago and Jörg Stenzl‚ any Nono exploration should begin here.