1998 release ** "This CD represents the pinnacle of IST's achievements so far. Phil Durrant's Sowari For Ist, concentrates upon texture and timbre as opposed to pitch and rhythm. The resulting music is detailed, fragile, abstract and beautiful, pushing acoustic instruments further into a sound-world more often associated with acousmatic forms. In Mark Wastell's Ritmico the emphasis is upon rhythm and the particular sonorities produced by the percussive possibilities of the wooden parts of each instrument (no direct string sounds being permitted). Not without a sense of fun, the resultant gestural music is eerie and full of clashing yet subtle timbres, and is a fitting homage to the memory of the late John Stevens. Rather cleverly programmed as the central piece on the disc is Stace Constantinou's Empedocles for solo harp. This piece serves as a poignant focal point, and is an alluring, contemplative piece that nevertheless takes the harp through its paces, expressively utilising stochastic calculations to determine form. Fell's compositions (No.41, Icons and No, 42, Cubism), both take differing structural elements as their starting point. Icons comprises 77 jazz chords in the key of C played on the harp, with bass and cello improvising with the structure: it is very non-jazz and wonderfully understated, atmospherically melancholic and melodic. Cubism, the opening piece of the disc, takes particular aspects of Cubism as a point of inspiration (ambiguities of perspective, perception and "the representation of the non-representational"), resulting in some of the more intense, rhythmically complex and energetic music associated with IST. The four intelligently programmed improvisations included here all possess an organic quality with musical gestures, interactions, sonorities, textures and rhythms that have the listener riveted and baffled as to who did what, when and how. Ist have developed into a leading force in improvised and creative music, pushing the limits of acoustic string music beyond existing boundaries. If you like acoustic music at the edge that is engaging, inventive, exploratory, innovative, provocative, challenging and beautiful, then this disc is an essential purchase."