HEATHER SCHMIDT (b.1975): Silver Tides, Elektra's Tanz, Serenity, Night Rainbow, Twelve for Ten: Prelude and Fugue, Shimmer, Nebula, Moon Cave.

Description: Collectors who acquired this Canadian composer's piano concerto (12N069) or disc of cello and piano pieces (04O082) will know what to expect here: richly imagined, emotionally direct neo-Romanticism sometimes with a harder edge. The titles may scream "New Age" but they are far from it. If, instead of Silver Tides, Serenity and Night Rainbow, the titles could have been Nocturne, Prelude or Intermezzo. Elektra's Tanz is inspired by the end of Richard Strauss' eponymous opera; it and Nebula conjure up a powerful atmosphere of pagan rhythms and burgeoning dynamism respectively. Definitely not hot tub and peacock feather music.  Heather Schmidt (piano).