BARBER: “SUMMER MUSIC.” LIGETI: SIX BAGATELLES. CARLSON:...

BARBER: “SUMMER MUSIC.” LIGETI: SIX BAGATELLES. CARLSON: “NIGHTWINGS” FOR WOODWIND QUINTET AND TAPE. Westwood Wind Quintet. Crystal S750. Mark Carlson’s 20-minute essay combines live players and synthesized tape sounds in a complicated dream structure not always discernible to the naked ear. The piece is resourceful in the manner in which it dips into imitative episodes and jazz motives; it receives an especially vibrant performance. The players also achieve convincing results with Ligeti’s allusive, succinct essays in writing for a limited harmonic palette. But Barber’s fluid tone painting ideally demands a less clinical, more impressionistic approach.