The violent end of the world is perhaps dark enough matter for Richard Barrett. His interference for contrabass clarinet, male voice and pedal bass drum firmly punctuates the piece with short, titanic stabs, played in true one-man-band style with the foot. Simultaneously, contrabass clarinettist Carl Rosman uses multiphonics, throat-flutter and slap-tongue techniques while vocalising a Latin text fragment from Lucretius’ apocalyptic poem ‘De rerum natura’. interference is part of Barrett’s larger Dark Matter work for voices, ensemble and electronics but stands well alone as a vehicle for extended technique on the contrabass clarinet.

What sets Barrett apart is his unswerving internal logic and consistency of style. While others use extended technique to impress, the works on this release use these in a natural and unforced manner. This was first glimpsed on NMC’s earlier release of his large-scale work Vanity, performed by the BBC SO under Arturo Tamayo (4/97). The present disc carries this through into a more intimate world of solo performances with members of new-music ensemble Elision.

The impressive transmission closes the disc with a tour de force for solo electric guitar and live electronics, using a hybrid sound that mixes acoustic and electric guitar output. Guitarist Daryl Buckley had a hand in devising the guitar timbres that slide effortlessly from dense electronic structures to fast, distorted passages reminiscent of jazz-rock guitarist John McLaughlin. The work ends with the sparse, unamplified sound of the electric guitar. Buckley is to be congratulated on his near note-perfect interpretation of a difficult, many-layered score.