Previous instalments in this long-running survey of Augusta Read Thomas’s oeuvre have ranged far and wide within a catalogue that spans some 30 years to date. In contrast, we here explore a variety of works of more immediately recent vintage (the earliest work here dates from 2018), and between them fill out a vividly coloured snapshot of Thomas’s irrepressible compositional persona as it stands at present. Many of her long-standing preoccupations are to be found in this collection: the love of dance which propels the music into a tirelessly evolving voyage in both rhythmic and narrative terms; the iridescent, bell-saturated sonic environment that fills her musical landscapes with light and clarity; the sense of jazz auras acting as guiding spirits propelling the music on its course with its restless, hocketing rhythms and penetrating harmonic flavours; a celebration and understanding of instrumental virtuosity; the overall sense of her music engaged in a deep-seated interaction between the present and the past.

The New Yorker called Thomas “a true virtuoso composer”. Critic Edward Reichel wrote, “Thomas has secured for herself a permanent place in the pantheon of American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. She is without question one of the best and most important composers that this country has today. Her music has substance, depth, and a sense of purpose. She has a lot to say and knows how to say it – and in a way that is intelligent yet appealing and sophisticated.”