London Sinfonietta, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Painful symmetry

The London Sinfonietta's New to London concert under Oliver Knussen was something of a hotch-potch, with music by a very elderly American (George Perle), a pillar of the British musical establishment (Sir Peter Maxwell Davies), a young Brit (Jonathan Cole) and a less young German (Detlev Glanert).

On paper it all looked happily symmetrical, with each half neatly prefaced by Perle's two sets of Critical Moments, the first written in 1997, the second in 2002. In my university days, Perle struck terror into the heart with his densely analytical "guides" to 12-tone serialism and its rules, and his scholarship of Alban Berg. In his two sets of Moments the two platforms meet: Perle knows the rules and doesn't hang about filling time, and he knows Berg's music.

Both sets are scored for a Pierre Lunaire-ish ensemble except that percussion is substituted for voice. The earlier is a set of six fragments, dense, clever but soulless; the later, in nine fragments, is far more expressive, positively Bergian.

True, context is all and the second set was heard after a particularly aimless new work, Assassin Hair, by Jonathan Cole, a BBC commission receiving its world premiere. Cole appears to have studied with a great number of people but not, alas, with George Perle, from whom he might learn a thing or two – not least brevity and structure. Georges Bataille may not be the most straight- forward of writers to set, but his strangely beautiful words demand to be heard. Too frequently Cole's musical complexities engulfed the vocal line, the text used as structural device rather than literal meaning. Jean Rigby, in lovely voice, gave a commanding performance. Her lower voice is the most chocolatey in the business.

Maxwell Davies has written many "occasional works". Veni Creator Spiritus, a 10-minute duet honouring the LS's principal (and founding) flute, Sebastian Bell, returns to the poignant bleakness of Orkney-inspired landscape and plainchant. Bell's partner, Mark van de Wiel, showed how nimble a bass clarinet can be in expert hands. Crossing Kings Reach is Davies's tribute to the Millennium Bridge in London, commissioned by Arup, and as might be expected it incorporates marches, wobbles, plainchant, grandeur and anarchy in equal measure.

It took Detlev Glanert's Secret Room (2002) to centre this programme. Albeit Henze-influenced, Glanert is not afraid for his music to be easily understood. The harmonic palette is wide, the material recognisable; a real ensemble piece superbly performed and greatly enjoyed by a modest crowd.