‘Songs are simply the most sensuous kind of fun one can have with the combination of words and music,’ remarks Scott Wheeler, composer of the highly praised The Construction of Boston (Naxos 8.669018). ‘That combination can range from humor to melancholy to high operatic drama. This recording is a selection from over twenty years of exploration of that expressive range. I am deeply grateful to the…five intensely communicative artists on this disc.’ Set to texts by Emily Dickinson, Blake, Rilke and others, these songs glow with a subtle, immensely appealing immediacy.