{TABLE} Time and Motion Study.................. Brian Fernyhough Cinis...................................Franco Donatoni Kottos..................................Iannis Xenakis Je est une autre........................Kasper Toeplitz Aus Bebung..............................Michael Jarrell Evening Rain............................James Dillon Fontana Mix.............................John Cage {/TABLE} LISTENING to Queen's University Sonorites Festival of Contemporary Music has been a stimulating if also challenging and occasionally slightly trying experience - as it should be. If for some, the absence of received stylistic landmarks in this concert might have been a frustration, there was always the ingenious byplay of textures and ideas and the subtleties of rhythm to enjoy.

In any case no one could fail to be moved by the expertise of Ensemble Accroche Note.

Francoise Kubler especially shone in the attractively melodious Donatoni, Dusapin's Canto and the unaccompanied Dillon piece. Hers was a clear soprano which maintained beauty of tone throughout all the vocal acrobatics required. Armand Angster (clarinet and bass clarinet) obviously relished the rhythmic complexities of the Fernyhough. If one didn't feel the same sense of physical engagement in cellist W Grimmer's account of the third solo, Xanakis's Kottos, written as the required piece for unfortunate entrants in a competition, the two instrumentalists worked well together in the Jarrell piece.

Cage's Fontana Mix has been performed more than once here, over the years, but such as is the indeterminate nature of the work, the actual notes, as well as the instrumentation were different this time. However, the sense of fun and irreverence came over as well as in any other performance.