Butterfly Effects and Other Works contains 4 works spread over 20 tracks (1 hr, 05 min, 55 sec). It's the perfect introduction to the compositions of Elizabeth Vercoe whose style neatly straddles traditional melodic works with a touch of avant-garde.

Vercoe experiments with various techniques, sometimes with soaring melodies and trills in the flute, and at other times with more primal, percussive sounds such as beat boxing and key slaps. In the seven part 'Butterfly Effects', the composer uses evocative melodies reminiscent of a butterfly in flight.

The remaining pieces are inspired by the writing of poets, and while it's not important that you know anything about the inspiration, the CD notes act as a jumping off point if you want to dig deeper into what was in Vercoe's head when she wrote these pieces.

This is probably an album best suited to those who like their classical music to be a little experimental. If you're not a fan of operatic solos then you might find some of the pieces here a little heavy going.

Overall an intriguing collection of pieces, but for me they were a little too avant-garde.

7

Darren Rea