“HD Duo bring riches from the colonies!” It’s a nice, if not very PC, headline. Let’s get back to reality. Formed in 2008, Australian duo Michael Duke (saxophone) and David Howie (piano) decided in 2018 to “commission, perform and record one composition from each of the (54 Commonwealth) countries”.

Here are project’s the first fruits: six world-premiere recordings of works for saxophone and piano commissioned from six composers representing British Columbia, Wales, Malta, Cyprus, Australia and Sri Lanka. As HD Duo state: “The principal aims of this project are to enhance and strengthen links between countries of the Commonwealth, greatly increasing cultural awareness and understanding.” And indeed, the music is as varied and attractive as the countries it originates from. Not that there are always overt cultural markers, such as material derived from folk music. This is more about the composer’s musical personalities coming to the fore, while acknowledging their common musical language

Stephen Chapman’s Six Preludes (British Columbia) are by turns gentle, manic, sweet and scrambling. Stephen McNeff’s The Man in the Wind and the West Moon...