Born in Romania in 1919 and part of the Italian avant-garde since before the Second World War, Vlad allies himself with the Schoenbergian concept of "pantonality"-something inclusive rather than exclusive, since, as he says, "there is no such thing as non-tonality; there are, rather, different tonal relations." (The late Igor Stravinsky, a good friend of Vlad's, regarded himself perhaps as anti-tonal-that is, able to achieve a suspension of tonality, as if one were going against it without canceling it.) Vlad fully exploits his compositional freedom and cannot be called a strictly dodecaphonic composer, though he skillfully uses techniques developed by the Schoenberg school. But his music is eminently listenable and has an immediate appeal to those not interested in technical intricacies.

The works by Roman Vlad presented here, which are all recording premieres, are performed by two enthusiastic interpreters and dedicatees of his creative efforts.