Most composers follow painters, poets and other artists in disdaining promotion. Marketing is seen as palaver, too much publicity the work of a mountebank.

Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette Pitt composer Eric Moe performed his "Hey Mr. Drummachine Man," for piano and drum machine. Click photo for larger image. Preview: U3 PROGRAM III: CMU Contemporary Ensemble, Walter Morales, conductor; and Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble, David Stock, conductor. 8 p.m. today, CMU Kresge Theater, Oakland. PROGRAM IV: Alberto Almarza, flute; Morales, piano. 8 p.m. tomorrow, CMU Alumni Recital Hall, Oakland. PROGRAM V: The Pittsburgh Symphony, Daniel Meyer, conductor. 10 a.m. Saturday, Heinz Hall, Downtown. TICKETS: All concerts are free; call 412-396-4632 for additional information.

Even for an event as potentially auspicious as U3, a biannual new music festival showcasing the composers of Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh, there was modesty in marketing and in presentation. This at a time when no one would have begrudged gasconading if it had brought in more patrons than the moderate showing. Especially after hearing the breadth of talent displayed Tuesday night at Duquesne's PNC Bank Recital Hall: There was music here worth talking up and composers worth bragging about.

From the jocular to the heart-rending, from the sonic to the affected, the particular pieces in this chamber music concert varied in type and quality, but there were no slouches. Here's a quick first response to the works, some sure to rise or fall in opinion with further hearings.

A tango by David Cutler, as lighthearted as its title of "Vango Tan Gogh," opened the concert excellently with the composer at the piano and cellist Aron Zelkowicz. Full of disparate influences from heavy metal to Mozart, it flew off the stage. Although the tango movement burned me out on concert tangos, this work bounced around inventively, aided by the deft connection between the two performers.

Night to Cutler's day followed with Eliyahu Tamar's somber "Lo Od (No More)," a response to Mideast violence. For cello (Misha Quint), violin (Juan Jaramillo) and percussion (Eliseo Rael), it was stark at times and explosively expressive at others -- a pedal point high in the violin combined with passionate, "Schelomo"-like statements on the cello. This lent it a convincing ambience of deep human sorrow, although the piece itself suffered from a lack of subtlety in the bald insertion of a children's song on xylophone near the end.

Eric Moe's "Hey Mr. Drummachine Man," for piano and drum machine (played and programmed, respectively, by Moe), sought to answer the question "Is it possible to write a good piece that has a pseudo-canned drumbeat?" The quick answer is, "Of course it is!"; Moby and other electronica artists have been doing so for years. But listening to the piece reveals that Moe is at odds with the question, too, and with the nature of the high/low debate. The piano flounders at first trying to connect with the pervasive beat. It is a pop song (actually a theme to a TV show) that pushes the whole piece into synchronization with ephemeral and attractive passage work. An intriguing piece, but more contrived than the inventive Moe's best work.

"Emergence" by Philip Thompson was a thoughtful duo for piano (Robert Frankenberry) and violin (Roger Zahab) that paddled through waters too deep for me to completely comprehend on first hearing. The first of two movements found a legato violin line soaring slowly above a piano part both impressionistic and pondering. The second was less a butterfly emerging from a cocoon than an action born out of contemplation.

Roger Dannenberg's "Feedback" for trumpet and computer manipulation was a major departure from the rest of the concert. It was concerned with sound qua sound. If it skimmed the surface, that surface had three dimensions brought on by surround-sound speakers, making for an attractive if not memorable aural experience. Dannenberg played the trumpet while the computer affected it differently at various points to create structure. There's beauty in the naked, almost geometric abstraction, and I can appreciate his dedication to sound. But here the triumph of form over content was a little too absolute for me.

Alan Fletcher's "Second Romance for Piano" was a marvelous and delicate neo-romantic work. Incorporating a folk-like tune, its phrases were always just a bit inflected from full tonality, giving it a shimmering spontaneity. Pianist Maho Nabeshima infused the work with a lambent tone, giving the work's subtext, "looking back into an idealized time," both the warmth and bittersweet flavor of nostalgia.

David Stock's "Sea of Reeds" received the best performance of the night by far, played by three Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians of the Pittsburgh Reed Trio (oboist Scott Bell, clarinetist Ron Samuels and bassoonist James Rodgers). The work is somewhat of a departure for Stock, less concerned with his usual motivic interplay than with color and timbre. Played without break, the three movements flow together quite convincingly. In fact, when played this well, it was a sort of anti-showpiece showpiece. Rather than obvious virtuosity, the skill of their blend and ensemble mesmerized.