Michael Faust (flute), Paulo Álvares (piano), Ensemble Contrasts, Robert HP Platz, Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä/Patrick GalloisNaxos 8.572635 ****

There can be a peculiar, referential what if? quality to the music of the late Mauricio Kagel. What if one were to take on the challenge of writing a flute concerto not by actually writing one, but by imagining how one might be written? A subtle, perhaps pointless distinction, perhaps. But then, the sideways, corner of the eye view is Kagel's forte, and it makes the ground-shifting fluidity of Das Konzert (2001-2) absorbing as a peephole into an alternative musical universe. Phantasiestück (1987-88) is given here in two versions, for flute and piano as well as for flute, piano and ensemble, the point of reference being Schumann's 19th-century fantasy pieces. The short Pan (1985) combines piccolo and string quartet. A disc that's full of the bizarre and unexpected. url.ie/af6o