Birtwistle's Axe manual

[Sean]

This is for piano and percussionist and has the usual Birtwistle weird intelligence providing strong experiences on the formal level, while the melodic-tonal surface has much less interest. Also as often with him the length's a little indulent, and two or three places are rather disappointing near-quotes from movements from Messiaen's Vingt regards.

I like the title- it refers to Emmanual Ax and a piano's manual (or keyboard), but also a manual for using an axe...