Circles is one of Luciano Berio's most captivating works: a setting of three poems by e.e. cummings for female voice, harp and two percussionists, in which the words are gradually taken apart into their sounds and the singer moves physically among the instruments, so that voice and percussion end up trading roles. It was written for Cathy Berberian, the "Callas" of new music, and her performance here remains the reference.

Around it are three of the Sequenzas, Berio's lifelong series of virtuoso solo pieces, each one an exploration of what a single performer and a single instrument can do. Sequenza I for flute is played by Aurèle Nicolet; Sequenza III, a short theatre of laughter, whispers, coughs and fragments of speech, is again Berberian's; Sequenza V for trombone, with its slides, growls and voice sung into the instrument, is played by Vinko Globokar.

The harp is played by Francis Pierre, the percussion by Jean-Pierre Drouet and Jean-Claude Casadesus. These are classic recordings from the early Wergo catalogue, first issued on LP and here on CD, total time 39'40".