Alessio Elia (b. 1979) is an Italian-born composer who has Hungarian citizenship. Short chamber works of his have been recorded but this is the first to showcase his music for larger ensembles. The late Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös wrote, “Elia makes truly interesting music that is complex in the writing and in its conception, and at the same time works very well for listening.” That’s encouraging! I was interested to hear it, after reading the unhelpful notes that come with the recording.

Luminescences (2005) is an orchestral soundscape, formless in classical terms but sonically captivating. In tonality untouched by any sense of key, long lines float through the air, broken by sudden tones from a high clarinet reinforced with tuned percussion – like rays of starlight in the night sky. The music’s density ebbs and flows effectively. Elia is clearly fond of the French sonorists, for whom colour and texture are paramount, and Ligeti is another influence. It says a lot, though, that when the recording moved on to the orchestral work Disappearing Rainbows (2015), I failed to notice....