A debut in classical music is always an interesting event, as the field seems to have long since been covered by the compositional grandees from Bach to Beethoven and Bartok. Nevertheless, there are always daring musicians who try to challenge the audience with the sound of an orchestra. These include Nicolas Lens, for example, but also the American Daniel Temkin, whose debut album COLORS was released today.

Colors is a chamber music album, and it offers colours in several ways. On the one hand, there is the variability with which Temkin formulates and acoustically shapes his pieces. They range from delicate to strong and present themselves in a variety of dynamics. At the same time, he varies the composition of the instruments so that there are always new combinations and thus always new colour palettes. What does this mean in practice?

The fact that the harp is an expanded lyre and therefore a lyrical instrument is demonstrated by the three-part piece Moments for solo harp, which opens Colors. Harpist Ashley Jackson presents the soft, delicately floral-coloured part of the acoustic world, especially in part three with the title In the Butterfly's song, I hear your name.

The eleven-minute Corners of Light is a multi-layered dialogue between a sometimes biting, sometimes cuddly clarinet at the lips of Stas Chernyshev and an often crisp piano played by Daniel Anastasio.

In Time Capsule for two violins, Francisco Fullana and Alexi Kenney play around each other in a sensitively intimate manner that elicits a surprising amount of warmth from the violins and pushes the disco-like bite of the small four-string instruments far into the background, which also speaks in favour of the quality of the recording, which generally entices with its very fine acoustics.

Together.We. is another instrumental conversation, this time oscillating between Jackson's harp and a flute played by Emi Ferguson. It is, as the title promises, a together and a we that shows how two very different characters can formulate a constant unity by playing around each other.

The title is also the programme for Flow. Pianist Qing Jiang, violinist Adriana Kim and cellist Christine Lamprea let the notes flow like in a mountain stream, sometimes gently rippling, sometimes wildly tearing in the first part Wash Over Me. Wash Me Over , while Tide Pull actually exerts more of an acoustic pull, fuelling attention with difficult tension.

While most of the compositions are assigned to a specific year, the situation is different with Unspoken. Even though Colors is a debut album, the beginning of its conclusion dates back to 2012, although here too it is not entirely clear which of the five pieces on Unspoken is meant or whether the 2012-2019 date rather means that it is a work-in-progress composition. In any case, Ayana Kozasa elicits another colour palette with her viola, but this time in pastel and minor keys. The cream of the crop is the contrast between her variation of In the Butterfly's song, I hear your name and the version for harp as Part III of the opening Moments from 2021.

Is that confusing? It may be, but it's also beautiful. And despite all the intellectuality, that should remain the essential thing when it comes to enjoyment and joy. And about the colours in life. The fact that Temkin adds a pleasantly modern facet to the classical genre can only be welcomed. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Ashley Jackson, harp
Stas Chernyshev, clarinet
Daniel Anastasio, piano
Francisco Fullana, violin
Alexi Kenney, violin
Qing Jiang, piano
Ariana Kim, violin
Christine Lamprea, cello
Ayane Kozasa, viola
Emi Ferguson, flute