London Sinfonietta, Fretwork, George Benjamin - Benjamin: Three Inventions, Upon Silence, Sudden Time & Octet (1998)

Sudden Time, originally issued as a CD single, is here reissued in the context of a range of other works which underline its distinctive textural refinement and expressive conviction. UponSilence (1993) is a setting for mezzo-soprano and five viols of a poem by Yeats in which textures of exceptional subtlety reflect a response to the text which is captivating in its blend of spontaneity and stylisation. The alternative version, with the viols replaced by a septet of violas, cellos and double basses is no less imaginative, while obviously lacking the unique quality – old instruments used in an entirely viable modern way – of the original.
Three Inventions (1994) has ear-opening instrumental effects on every page, but these never detract from the essential processes of argument and cogent form-building in music perhaps more urgently expressive (especially in the third piece) than anything else of Benjamin's.
With the astonishingly precocious Octet, written in 1979, when the composer was 18, and with highly effective recordings of definitive performances, this disc is an outstanding success.