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Mihailo Trandafilovski (born 1974), a Macedonian composer with a strong how-it-sounds orientation, shows on a new Métier CD that he can compose for both traditional and experimental aural sonorities – and can do so for familiar instruments and familiar instrumental combinations. Two of the works here are for solo violin (played by Peter Sheppard Skærved): Chaconne, at 13-plus minutes the longest work on the disc, which shows Trandafilovski reinterpreting a venerable form, and Grain—Song, whose first movement’s ultra-high register contrasts with the more-lyrical, more-central register used in the second. Two other works on the disc are also for solo performers. Sandglass is for solo clarinet (Roger Heaton) and is not especially cognizant of the instrument’s warmer and more emotive capabilities. Polychromy is for solo cello (Neil Heyde) and tries to combine some nontraditional, percussive approaches to the instrument with more-usual ones.

The CD also includes a couple of works for two instruments. The two-movement Sarenilo is for two violins (Skærved and the composer) and seems to struggle in trying to decide whether its sonic environment should be wholly dissonant or should admit of a certain degree of lyricism. String Dune(s), with its odd title, is for a pair of guitars (Saki Kato and Hugh Millington) and includes some interesting technical elements, although it goes on using them for rather too long. There is also a trio here: Weaxan for clarinet (Linda Merrick), violin (Skærved), and piano (Roderick Chadwick). This is, in many ways, the most purely “sonic” work on the disc, combining the instruments in ways that go beyond their usual sounds and make them almost come across, collectively, as if they were something electronic. No work here stands out for aural inventiveness or for putting instrumental sound capability at the service of audience communication, but Trandafilovski does show skill in composing for a variety of individual and chamber-size instrumental mixtures – even if the pieces do not ultimately seem to have very much to say beyond “listen to this.”