Though profound in concept and complex technically, Time Gallery makes for surprisingly easy listening, especially in the electrifying hands of Eighth Blackbird. Moreover, Moravec writes with a keen ear for variety of texture, mood, rhythm and percussive color, rarely dwelling on one idea for long as he alternates between music of feisty skittishness and rigid rhythms and lumbering, atmospheric transparency.

Protean Fantasy, a rollicking set of theme-and-variations for violin and piano, places incredible demands on its performers and fills out the disc with music of ceaseless churning and only momentary calm.

The second movement has four named sections, beginning with a confusion of clocks that breaks into a scherzo-like piece that busies itself with its fast tempo before moving on to the next with an uneasy descending chromatic motif. What follows is a rather fast section that culminates in a constantly-repeating figure that gradually falls apart into dissonance and disorganization. After a blow to the drum, we are back to the familiar motif heard earlier. The third movement, entitled Pulse: the feeling that happens, is another fast-paced scherzo-like movement. The fourth movement (Overtime: Memory Sings) again begins with a clocklike introduction. Chimes fade in, then the rasping deep ticking of a clock that multiplies over the beating of a heart. This is a movement of quiet tension that the string parts build on while the piano maintains an insistent tone in the left hand to carry the time motif. The composer, in his notes that accompany this recording, states that this movement calls up the �imagination of an ideal mind remembering the previous movements, reinventing the past�. It has the meditativeness of the first movement and is rather melancholic and wistful. As the parts fade, what is left is a pianissimo held A, on which the piece ends.

The Protean Fantasy of 1993, scored for violin and piano, begins with a bright exclamation before moving into a lyrical segment that forms the basis for the variations that follow. The immediate variation is a new side to the theme entirely, presented as a scherzo with the violin intoning the theme over the manic piano. An affecting and excitingly interesting piece.

The Ariel Fantasy is a perpetuum mobile scherzo, which Moravec mentions is the prototype of the Tempest Fantasy�s first movement, which is available on Arabesque Records (Z6791). All of the pieces here presented are exceedingly well recorded with, especially at the beginning, - and perhaps this is with intent - the percussion a bit too far forward. Naxos again remains highly consistent with its well-produced recordings of new and unfamiliar repertoire. Well-recorded, well-performed, this is an interesting and engaging program.

Moravec is essentially a romantic composer � by which I do not mean that his work is dripping with sentimentality, more that his language is intuitive, unafraid of the past, and programmatic rather than polluted with artificial intellectualism. Having won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music and with a substantial catalogue to his name already, his future as a composer of substance would seem to be assured.

The Time Gallery is chamber music on an impressive scale. In four movements, the first, Bells, describes a day marked out by the chimes of medieval Benedictine monasteries. Atmospheric meditation develops through some interesting counterpoint over a ground bass toward more rhapsodic writing. There is considerable virtuosity asked of the musicians, with instrumental filigrees winding around sometimes chorale-like harmonic movement which made a few other composers names pop into my mind � only momentarily, but there are one or two Nyman or Adams-esque progressions, and later on in the piece there is a distinctly Frank Martin feel to some of the resolutions. The music is in no way derivative, but if you like these kinds of tonal idiom, then the chances are you will love this to bits. The second movement, Time Machine, starts predictably with ticking clocks, but the music is dramatic � pulse driven, but with shifting accents and constantly mobile mini-ostinati which are in reality melodic fragments pushing the while thing along at pace. The movement describes the development of clocks and temporal philosophy through time, including a B.A.C.H. reference which rolls gently along underneath the Pendulum second section of the movement. eighth blackbird�s six performers prove themselves equal to the muscular demands of this music at every turn, and the playing is first rate.

The hoorspel theatricalfeel of each movement�s opening is continued with an actual heartbeat at the beginning of Pulse: The Feeling of What Happens. Some Martinuesque piano writing pops out in this punchily rhythmic movement. The fourth and final movement is called Overtime: Memory Sings, and here the principal themes return and are summed up. There are some almost Ivesean moments in this �meta-temporal imagination of an ideal mind remembering the previous movements�, but this is well though-through and beautifully crafted music. The apotheosis is Copland, Martinu, Martin, all rolled into a mix which takes on its own character. I can hear Peter Sallis�s voice calling in from the next room; �cracking CD, Gromit!�

The �fillers� are also repertoire-busting additions to the catalogue. Protean Fantasy opens with a lyrical phrase, which is treated in a set of variations. Moravec�s energetic style is well represented both here and in Ariel Fantasy, which is the prototype for the first movement of his prize winning Tempest Fantasy. These are pieces which I am sure will soon be cropping up regularly on more adventurous concert and exam programmes in years to come.

So, with superb playing, an excellent recording and some inspirational new music I suggest, dear reader, you unearth your bus pass or your bicycle clips and head for the nearest classical CD outlet. You might mention to the shopkeeper that the admittedly low price is in fact FULL price for that label, and not a �Special Offer�, and then compliment him on his foresight at stocking such an excellent release.

From the Naxos American Classics series, there is a little subseries, American Jewish Music from the Milken Archive. The latest addition is �The Art of Yiddish Song,� which celebrates the Yiddish art songs of Lazar Weiner (1897-1982). Here are 32 selections ranging from 45 seconds to 4.5 minutes, sung by such artists as Raphael Frieder, Ida Rae Cahana, Meir Finkelstein, Robert Abelson and David Ossenfort, among others. Some heartbreaking, all lovely, these songs provide fascinating insight into how this people�s experience in America reflects all of their history. Complete texts and translations are provided.

On the CPO label are three works by Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838). They are his �Clarinet Trio, op. 28,� �Clarinet Sonata, op. 29,� and �Clarinet Sonata, op 169.� Though not quite masterpieces, they are excellent examples of how this relatively new instrument caught the imagination of composers in the time of Mozart and are very well performed here by Dieter Kloecker (clarinet), Armin Fromm (violoncello) and Thomas Duis (piano). Lovely pieces by an unfamiliar composer.