The music of Beat Furrer, Swiss-born (in 1954) and Vienna-based, has long attracted attention for its subtle exploration of the possibilities of the human voice.

His six enigmas, a cycle of a cappella settings of Leonardo da Vinci, demonstrates its striking emotional range, from rich, almost Romantic tonal warmth to dramatic avant-garde expressionism.

This is the first recording of the six enigmas and of voices – still for mixed choir and ensemble, which sets Virgil in the original Latin and in Furrer’s own German translation. All eight works on this album underline Furrer’s fondness for exploring sonority, timbre and texture.

The Helsinki Chamber Choir is Finland’s only professional chamber choir, its wide-ranging repertoire includes music from the Renaissance to the present day and it is particularly highly regarded for its work with new music. The choir appears frequently at festivals in Finland and abroad and collaborates with symphony orchestras, period-instrument ensembles and contemporary-music groups. The Uusinta Ensemble is a contemporary-music ensemble founded in 1998 in Helsinki ad with an international outreach and repertoire. To date it has premiered over a hundred works by the leading composers of the present day, such as Mark Andre, Chaya Czernowin, Hèctor Parra, Kaija Saariaho and Michel van der Aa.