Anna Dennis, William Towers, Nicholas Daniel - Elena Langer - Landscape with Three People (2016)

The Russian composer Elena Langer, now resident in Britain, draws on influences from her native country (Shostakovich, especially in the chamber orchestration of these songs), from Britain (from Britten to Thomas Adès), and from continental Europe. As a song composer she is able to convey lightness even when dealing with serious material such as the title song cycle setting poems by Lee Harwood (most of the songs on the album are in English). These songs subtly depict love triangles, some of them with both straight and gay elements. Even better are the genuinely playful pieces. Sample the delightful Two Cat Songs, in Russian (tracks 11 and 12), for soprano, cello, and piano. Here and throughout the listener's attention seems to jump from the vocal soloist to and around the accompanimental ensemble, in a way that owes nothing to anybody. The singers and players on this beautifully recorded release obviously enjoy what they are doing, and the whole disc consists of worthwhile contemporary vocal chamber music.