Shortly after Boulez’s death, Richard Barrett published a brief ‘Boulez est mort’ article online. While for many the French composer represents the acme of arch-modernism, for Barret he stands for the gradual dilution, if not betrayal of that project. It’s a viewpoint that helps indicate the stylistic tenor of Barrett’s music on this uncompromising, vivifying album.

Barrett’s cello writing eschews the exclusivity of traditional parameters, such as pitch, harmony and melody, for an expanded topography of sound wherein many micro-physical attributes take more importance. Most of the 10 sections of life-form (2011 12), for example, require different scordatura, and the electronics often act as ‘environments’ in which the solo instrument’s sound material evolves. This combination of non-idiomatic cello writing and electronics makes for a wildly complex, coruscating blaze of flashes and glitches, though the monumental work is not without lulls or the odd classical gesture.

Common to all three works is imagery from the natural world – less alpine lake than trans-human biomorphism. If the title of nacht und träume (2004 08) and the added presence of the equal-tempered piano suggest an embrace of music history, it is within the context of a menacingly surrealistic dream wherein history is pulled apart. Blattwerk (1998-2002) evokes the multidimensional cross-section of a leaf falling through the air; the intensity of the results is at times disconcerting.

Belgian cellist Arne Deforce has collaborated with Barrett since the late 1990s in opening up new territory for the instrument and he puts in energetic, exhilarating performances here. An intelligent essay by John Fallas helps place the music in perspective and the album on the whole makes a compelling case not only for the boldness of Barrett’s vision but also for its clarity.