The compelling repertoire that the Asia/America New Music Institute presents on its new disc, ‘Transcendent’, speaks volumes for the high level of creativity flourishing in the 21st century. Each of the composers brings individual and mystical qualities to the scores at hand, many of them influenced by Asian sources, to which the institute is devoted.

The repertoire includes Matthew Aucoin’s prismatic Two Whitman Songs and Sayo Kosugi’s Lilac Nova, a burst of dramatic and silken statements for violin and chamber ensemble. Xiaogang Ye’s Lamura Cuo, named for a sacred Tibetan lake, is a glowing tone poem – also for violin and ensemble – abounding in lyrical and brooding flights, and the achievement of a Chinese composer worth following.

AANMI founder Chad Cannon shares his affection for Japanese culture in Wild Grass on the Riverbank, with texts by the feminist poet Hiromi Ito translated into English. The songs are concise and trenchant, with glistening sonorities complementing fervent vocal lines. Equally impactful are Sun Young Park’s poignant and vividly hued My Beloved, based on a Korean poem by Kim So Wol, and Narong Prangcharoen’s Whisper from Afar, which not only whispers but also agonises, largely through penetrating solos by piano, cello and violin (the excellent Benjamin Salisbury, Marek Szpakiewicz and GaHyun Cho respectively).

The AANMI Los Angeles Ensemble, led by Yuga Cohler, are expert at illuminating the adventuresome scores and teaming vibrantly with the intrepid, expressive violinist Ryu Goto and the eloquent bass-baritone Davóne Tines, who also collaborates in the Whitman songs with composer-pianist Aucoin.