Uphill struggles Archbold and Fitch - Composers today, with BASIL RAMSEY Metier    MSV CD92042

The courage of some smaller label record companies has my admiration for their readiness to support truly modern music.

Paul Archbold and Fabrice Fitch are composers working, like many around the world, within the confines of a self-imposed discipline that regulates every note and nuance to the structure and shape of each piece. The resulting tensions demand that the listener correspondingly adjusts his reception to acute awareness of internal events, both singly and in relationships.

Archbold's Pas de Deux for viola and piano seeks to explore acoustical properties, particular in unison, between the two, thereby releasing fascinating and intense sounds [listen -- track 11, 0:00-0:42]. Fitch's Filigranes pour les Frères Limbourg is a triptych ruminating on the fine detail and colours that characterised the work of master illuminators of the early 15th century. Using a small ensemble, Fitch's ornate melodic lines create delicate textures [listen -- track 20, 3:00-3:59].

This CD also contains piano suites from both composers, superbly presented by Peter Hill, a suite for harp solo by Archbold, and other small ensemble works by both. This is the style of record crucial to aid composers in the uphill struggle.

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Record Box is Music & Vision's regular Wednesday series of shorter CD reviews