Enno Poppe is a force of nature in German new music. His floppy red hair and towering height are often seen at festivals such as MaerzMusik or conducting ensembles such as Mosaik and Musikfabrik. The latter features on this disc along with Ensemble Nikel, performing separately two of Poppe’s recent compositions. A fine introduction to the composer, the disc shows Poppe’s music as pan-European in style, mixing German formal nous with Franco-Italian luscious colouristic beauty.

Composed for Ensemble Nikel – a quartet using pop-music instrumentation (synthesiser, tenor saxophone, electric guitar and drum kit) – Fleisch is the kind of frenetic, witty work that used to be called postmodern. In the opening movement, Donatoni-esque unisons and wonky homophonic passages give the impression of staircases leading nowhere. Tenor saxophone honks, electric guitar riffs, bongos pitter-patter – and it sounds like it’s just waiting for someone to start reciting beat poetry. The middle movement is a deep post-jazz blues, featuring umbral sax and shimmering hi‑hat. Musically, the third movement is basically Wacky Races, in the best way possible. It’s rare to find new music with a sense of humour about itself, and refreshing when performed so well.

Where Fleisch is brief, Prozession is an hour-long work of wide-ranging instrumental and textural variety. In tone, Prozession follows lightly the faux-ceremonial lineage of Stockhausen’s Inori and Boulez’s Rituel. Four percussionists at the four corners of the stage play throughout. Electric guitar and two Korg BX3 synthesisers act, Poppe says, in the manner of a basso continuo. Duos play a preponderant role (oboe and viola, trombone and electric guitar, and so on). At the outset, sparse single notes on flute and violin are inserted into silence alongside skittering bongo and other percussion (including bass drums prepared using the snares from snare drums). Later, microtonal melodies on strings and winds recall Sufi trance music and Persian classical music. Ensemble Musikfabrik put in a gutsy and dramatic performance. The closing movement ends with sustained, moody microtonal synthesiser chords, with swelling sonorities hinting at a Romitelli influence. File as a rebellious younger brother of Rihm’s Jagden und Formen.