Italian composer Ivan Fedele applies rigorously structured compositional processes to his music, but the pieces for chamber ensemble collected here don't come across as academic or merely intellectual; his works are disarmingly engaging on a sensual level and sparkle with spontaneity and life. Fedele's writing is always intriguing, most often inhabiting a world of delicate and ethereal gestures, sometimes serene, sometimes agitated. The transparency of his writing frequently creates clouds of memorably delicate traceries and gorgeous, shimmering filigrees. His writing is not moored to any traditional sense of tonality, but the repetition of figures, and the strongly evocative atmospheres he creates, provides the lodestars necessary to keep the listener oriented to the direction in which each piece is moving. The flute is prominently featured in four of the five works recorded here, and
Mario Caroli responds to the music's virtuosic demands with agile and brightly colored playing.
Marco Angius leads Ensemble Algoritmico in deeply committed and expressive performances. Stradivarius' exemplary sound is atmospheric but clean.