Classical home listening - Voces8, the Hermes Experiment and Llŷr Williams

The Guardian 0

Voces8 celebrate 15 years in impeccable style; a notable debut from the Hermes Experiment; and Llŷr Williams not in Mexico…

• After Silence by Voces8 (Voces8 Records), directed by Barnaby Smith, wasn’t devised for the state we are in but might well have been. This wide-ranging double album, marking the vocal ensemble’s 15th birthday, is in four sections: Remembrance, Devotion, Redemption and Elemental. Repertoire spans the centuries, from Byrd, Monteverdi and Bach to Mahler, Britten and Eric Whitacre, with contributions, variously, from soprano Mary Bevan, oboist Nick Deutsch and members of the Academy of Ancient Music.

If you respond to the beauty of perfectly blended unblemished voices, this outstanding collection is for you. If you want rough edges look elsewhere. The album’s theme, borrowing from an essay by Aldous Huxley, who in turn borrowed from Shakespeare, is music’s power to express the inexpressible. Watch Voces8 (1 August) and other top choral groups performing live in HD as part of online festival Live from London (1 August-3 October).