Septet, for 3 female voices & string quartet

This unusual work from 1909 is for three wordless female voices and string quartet. After a brief instrumental introduction, the voices enter on chords, in almost exclusively parallel motion, that evoke the imagery of some distant land of equally earthly and heavenly energies, and whether the call is of sirens, or harpies, or angels or just happy seaside bathers is left to the listener's imagination. The highly rhapsodic music is continuingly evolving in an impressionistic flow that is at times on-the-edge-of-your-seat dramatic and at times lanquid and sensuous. The vocalises become more and more complex and operatic, like an aria for three, and the instruments sometimes join to parallel them in one overwhelming gesture. A remarkable work that deserves many hearings.