It's little wonder that Django Bates's arrangement of New York, New York lurched, in the composer's words, from "distinction to extinction" at its first performance during a conference for the grandees of Polygram in New York. The piece is a riotous collection of dissonant harmonisations, impenetrably dense textures, and snatches of the US national anthem, which surface, flail about, and then drown in Bates's all-consuming sonic maelstrom. Bates contributed his own vocals at the Britten Sinfonia's concert, enthroned behind racks of keyboards and samplers in the midst of the orchestra.

The post-Charles Ives clutter of Bates's arrangement was no accident in the Britten Sinfonia's concert. Their programme revealed connections and creative contrasts between Bates, Bach, Ligeti, and Ives himself. A selection of Ives's shorter works ranged from the anarchical rhythmic profusion of the Country Band March and Ragtime Dance No 4, to the transcendent hush of his Hymn.

All of these Ivesian qualities found parallels in the evening's world premiere, Bates's concerto for synthesiser, embedded jazz quartet, and orchestra, 2000 Years Beyond Undo. In outline, it was possible to discern the dim vestiges of a conventional concerto layout: an opening allegro; a set of slow-ish variations, even if they were unconventionally brash; and a grandiose final movement, preceded by the archaic quaintness of a showy cadenza. However, the divisions between these sections seemed as arbitrary as the colours of the accompanying lighting.

But it was Bates's wit and worldliness which were the work's most original features. Announcing to the audience during the Theremin-like swoops of the cadenza, that "one always ends a piano cadenza with a trill", his synthesiser duly obliged and became a genteel concert grand. The mock finale that followed took the musical irreverence to another level in its pilfering of Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

However, Bates's sonorous mélange is not just an attempt to debunk or deconstruct. As demonstrated by his Three English Scenes, there is a warmth and affection behind his energetic eccentricity. Emphasising Bates's regard for the conventional classical world, Joanna MacGregor joined the Britten Sinfonia in two piano concertos: Ligeti's found echoes in the surrounding sound and fury, and the pristine coolness of Bach's counterpoint created an unlikely ally for Bates's souped-up polyphony.

At Basingstoke Anvil tonight, then tours. Details: 01223 300795.