SERGIO Mascaru's recital in the Lane Gallery on Sunday was in two parts, the second of which was devoted to composers of New Consonant Music.

This music is characterised by an avoidance of any but the mildest dissonances and a lack of a sense of direction. It would make admirable music to accompany meditation, but is, less rewarding to listen to with the intentness that is demanded by the old consonant music, that is to say the pieces by Bach, Schubert and Debussy with which the programme began.

The impromptus of Schubert's Op. 90 were more dynamic, in spite of their familiarity. than any of the new pieces that were designed to reestablish a contact between music and audience that had a been lost during the Sixties.

Beggin's Berceuse and the Prehide by Swents were quite conventional, tending towards minimalism: Lachert's Avale Knan, written with the aid of a computer, alternated short flurries of action with amiable loiterings; and Lawalree's Sonata would ideally be heard in the dark, with but one candle. Thus does the composer play it.