Meredith Monk’s ‘Cellular Songs’ charts the limits and possibilities of vocal sound

Giorgio Koukl | 6 JAN 2026

Meredith Monk (born 1942) is one of the most influential figures in contemporary music, particularly in redefining the human voice as a primary, autonomous instrument. Her contributions extend across music, performance art, dance, film, and theater, and her work has fundamentally reshaped late-20th- and early-21st-century approaches to vocal composition and performance.

ECM New Series 2751 (click to enlarge)

She is certainly not the first composer who has tackled the vast world of extra-musical expressions. Composers increasingly rejected the idea that singing must be beautiful, lyrical, pitch-centered, and text-faithful.

Outside of melodrama, as Zdeněk Fibich wrote in the 19th century, one of the first composers to use “Sprechgesang” was Arnold Schoenberg in his Pierrot Lunaire (1912). Between speech and song, “Sprechgesang” initiated a new trend, soon followed by Alban Berg and Luciano Berio. In this line, it is difficult not to cite Stripsody, written and magisterially sung by Berio’s wife Cathy Berberian.

In this new ECM release entitled Cellular Songs, the artists Meredith Monk, Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, Joanna Lynn-Jacobs, Allison Sniffin, voices; John Hollenbeck, vibraphone, percussion, crotales; Allison Sniffin, piano and violin deliver in the fifteen tracks a full array of what was and is the output of Ms. Monk.

The Click Song #3 Prologue, right at the beginning, is a signature example of Monk’s way of conceiving music. The nice work consists exclusively of non-linguistic sounds: clicks, sighs, gasps. The interpreters achieve a seamless result, likely also thanks to the massive contribution of sound engineers.

The three Cell Trios are minimalist repetitions of sung notes with no textual meaning. The idea was extensively used in the past. What is a little disturbing here is that the voices are not spotlessly intonated. Maybe more care, without pretending that the perfectionism achieved by composers like Arvo Pärt would be beneficial.

There are some lesser pieces in which the use of traditional playing techniques on the cello or piano brings to the surface the relatively poor invention. It must be terribly difficult to reduce the music until it reaches the stadium of tribal, ancestral music, as the declarations of the composer are instructing us, and not to fall into the trap of obvious or worse. In this sense, the track called Happy Woman, maybe together with Lullaby for Lise, is a perfect example of the limits of such a purpose. But there are tracks genuinely new and surprising. Breath sounds, glottal attacks, cries, hums, whispers, sliding pitches, and microtonality, as well as non-Western and pre-linguistic vocalizations, are used very well in tracks like Brathstream or the final Nyems.

Obviously, the listener is deprived of much of the magical power of Meredith Monk’s complex genre-mixing art because the visual part is missing. In fact, her art consists mainly of singing while moving, running, or dancing, hence obtaining a unique sound. She has compositions in which movement shapes sound production, and spatialized performers in which the voice is inseparable from body and gesture.

Anyway, the work of a well-tailored sound landscape, a real gem of sound engineers, putting productions of the past with newer scores, gives the listener a good example of who Meredith Monk really is and also explains her influence on artists like Laurie Anderson or Björk.

This is definitely not a CD for everybody, but if you are interested in new forms of musical expression, sometimes difficult to categorize, this is definitely something you should give a chance to listen. ■

EXTERNAL LINKS:

• Meredith Monk: meredithmonk.org

About the author:

Giorgio Koukl is a Czech-born pianist/harpsichordist and composer who resides in Lugano, Switzerland. Among his many recordings are the complete solo piano works and complete piano concertos of Bohuslav Martinů on the Naxos label. He has also recorded the piano music of Tansman, Lutosławski, Kapralova, and A. Tcherepnin, amongst others, for the Grand Piano label. (photo: Chiara Solari)

Read more by Giorgio Koukl.

RECENT POSTS

The lost are found: Mercer concert brings neglected late Romantic works back into focus • 14 Jan 2026

Pianist Choo Choo Hu pairs Boulanger, Debussy, and Schubert in a concise recital of poetic reflection • 13 Jan 2026

Jennifer Higdon reflects on her music for ‘Cold Mountain,’ opera, and writing to performers’ strengths • 09 Jan 2026

Chamber Cartel marks 15th season with premieres, Reich collaboration, and Xenakis revival • 08 Jan 2026

Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra shares a family-centered holiday concert • 30 Dec 2025