Gathering two decades of work scored for such wildly divergent forces could easily have resulted in incoherence – yet somehow, David Wallace’s debut is assured, with shared themes and compositional approaches echoing across the album.

Cliff Edge opens with three shorter pieces, the central piece being the title track, a turbulent piano flurry that oscillates between moments of spikiness and smooth, gentle passages. L’oiseau mis en cage for solo bass clarinet serves as an intimate point of entry, with a recording quality so detailed the listener can access all the nuances in the interpretation.

The three larger works, each made up of multiple movements, offer up more ensemble writing. H.B.J.W. was written as a 50th birthday gift for Wallace’s friend, the violinist James Widden. It is understated in its approach, the shared sound worlds and timbres of the violin and cello playing off one another – a stylistic approach echoed in the subsequent works.

Five Vignettes from the River Avon for clarinet and basset horn has a charming, meandering quality, again introducing moments of rhythmic excitement before returning to a calm equilibrium. Wallace’s impressions of this West Country landscape make for a pleasant listen, not venturing too far from the original theme.

The concluding Canticles is perhaps the most reflective and least combative of all the works featured here. Although some of the held notes could be more sustained in the performance, the writing and tone-matching of the various lines of the harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet is well executed.