Dutch pianist Ralph van Raat is determined to convert the world - or at least those of us who explore his extensive catalogue of Naxos CDs - to what he describes as "the classical music of today".
The man himself fell under the spell of Schoenberg and Webern in his mid-teens; now, at 43, he can be proud of his many definitive interpretations of such composers as John Adams, John Taverner, Gavin Bryars and, on his latest release, Arvo Part.
The new album includes Part's solo piano music, but also brings in the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic under JoAnne Falletta for the 2002 salute to the sculptor Anish Kapoor. In doing so, the disc spans almost half a century of the Estonian's music.
If you have an inbuilt resistance to Part the New Age Guru, fear not - his hardcore chill-out 70s minimalism accounts for only a fifth of the CD.And even here, the translucent resonances of the Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka are hypnotic; in Fur Alina the simplicity of the notes is cleverly coloured by the shadowy sounds of the instrument's mechanical workings.
Only the minute-long Fur Anna Maria comes across as a little too cute for its own good. But, even here, Raat's humour and wafting rubatos lift it clear of any such tainting.
