Matthew Barley (cello) Signum Classics SIGCD 318***

Cellist Matthew Barley is early off the mark in celebrating the centenary of Benjamin Britten. And he's not just confining himself to CD, but undertaking a 100-event tour around the UK to boot. At the core of his programme is the Third Cello Suite, written for Rostropovich in 1971 and based on Russian themes, including the Russian Orthodox Church's hymn for the dead, the Kontakion. Barley plays it with a sometimes old- mannish, knowing reflectiveness. He follows it with five of his own multi-tracked Britten arrangements, which he delivers with sophisticated, pop-song sensibility. He persuasively brings a similar sense of ownership to Gavin Bryars's Tre Laude Dolce, and rather less convincingly to John Taveners Thrinos and Chant. url.ie/gu3q