Vine: Ocre Oscuro; Hall: Think About Space; Meredith: Axeman; Flak

The latest instalment of the London Sinfonietta's Jerwood Series, featuring recordings of new works premiered by the orchestra in their London concerts, is a nicely contrasted collection of pieces introduced between 2005 and 2008. It's especially good to have something by Ian Vine available on disc, for Vine (born in 1974 and a former pupil of Simon Holt) is one of the more distinctive voices among the younger generation of British composers. His Ocre Oscuro begins with a shrieking violin solo that is refracted through different orchestral textures and colours; the idea is a straightforward, linear one, but it works effectively enough. Nothing else on this disc seems quite as successful, though Emily Hall's Think About Space, with its ghosts of reggae rhythms and quirky instrumentation doesn't outstay its welcome, and Anna Meredith's Axeman is a witty attempt to transform a solo bassoonist into a 1980s heavy-metal guitarist. Meredith's Flak is less successful, piling on too many extra-musical ideas and not coming up with enough intrinsically musical ones.