JENNIFER HIGDON (b.1962): Piano Trio (Anne Akiko Myers [violin], Alisa Weilerstein [cello], Adam Neiman [piano]), Impressions for String Quartet (Cypress String Quartet), Voices for String Quartet (Nicholas Kitchen, Melissa Kleinbart [violins], Hsin-Yun Huang [viola], Wilhelmina Smith [cello

Description: Owners of Higdon's Grammy-winning Telarc orchestral CD will know how attractive, bright and approachable her music is and these chamber works are just as winning. Impressions (2003) is a musical response to Ravel and Debussy which uses their Impressionist styles to both pay tribute to them and as a commentary on their artistic styles. From the same year, the short (13-minute) piano trio explores the relationship between color, music and mood (its two movements are titled "Pale Yellow" and "Fiery Red") while the earlier Voices (1993) substitutes somewhat abstract images ("Blitz", "Soft Enlacing" and "Grace") for colors in its exploration of contrasting states of mind. All very approachable and quite enjoyable.