For helping Zeus outwit the jealousy of Hera, his wife, the nymph Echo was condemned to be unable to speak—except by repeating the last words she heard. Unloved, rejected, dismembered, or dead of grief, she nonetheless embodies a fascinating figure: that of a woman who outwits her punishment by inventing a unique language to reach out to others. A resonant body that merges with the rock to become the voice of the earth; a woman who interprets and makes herself heard.

This musical journey unfolds in the wake of her song. A watery, mysterious voice rises above the abyssal low notes of the cello. Eight winds follow one another, from the gentlest to the most turbulent, before giving way to a sailor’s song, like a rest stop at the end of the journey. The cello reveals the full range of its capabilities, imitating everything from the delicacy of a butterfly’s wing to a powerful, emotionally charged lyricism.

Contemporary works, commissioned over the past decade from composers engaged with the living world, come together to form a sensory journey—an invitation to listen to the world in a new way and to celebrate the power of gentleness.