Description
SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce Hush!, the second release by the “extraordinary voices” (BBC Radio 3) of female quintet Papagena following their internationally acclaimed, Amazon classical chart-topping debut, The Darkest Midnight (SOMMCD 0189). Hush! unearths a treasure trove of songs largely neglected on disc to deliver a stunning follow-up to The Darkest Midnight. Where it hymned the cold, harsh glamour of sun-starved winter, Hush! – playful, poignant, poetic and primed with the expectation of joy – celebrates the warmth and light of love. Typically for Papagena, Hush! is a centuries-spanning, genre-defying, culturally diverse recital marrying sacred and secular, ancient and modern, classical, traditional and even stadium rock. The result is an often gorgeous, always intelligent exploration of “hush” as a harbinger of consolation, of tranquil release and of mild admonition to pause, listen, feel and relish the quietly exultant glories of being alert and alive to the fleeting moment. Papagena’s beautifully blended, pristine vocal signature illuminates ecstatic heights, anguished depths and love in all its multi-hued splendour with a becoming thread of wit and humour.