Song

The Hermes Experiment’s lineup of voice, clarinet, harp and double bass already guarantees a unique soundworld. But in the hands of these four gifted and imaginative musicians, the instruments add something even more strange and wonderful to the world of song. This album is an extraordinary collection, some songs specially commissioned for the ensemble, others reinvented for it through unexpected, creative arrangements. Seventeenth-century composer Barbara Strozzi’s “Tradimento!” takes on an unmistakably contemporary palette, while this ensemble’s ethereal instrumentation brilliantly suits 20th-century French composer Lili Boulanger’s “Reflets” and “Attente”. Of the commissioned pieces, Kerry Andrews’ fruit-inspired suite brings out the exuberance of these musicians, and in “A Photograph”, British composer Philip Venables ingeniously juxtaposes spoken narration and song.