This portrait CD of the Chinese composer Huihui Cheng gathers five works from 2016 to 2019, a many-coloured range of playful, mysterious and unreal sounds made with voices, instruments and electronics. Because dance, performance and video are part of her work, the disc is supplemented with videos and a smartphone game. Communication, between performers, between people and machines, and with the audience, runs through every piece.

The soloists are the sopranos Youmi Kim and Silke Evers, the alto Noa Frenkel and the pianist Claudia Chan. They are joined by the instrumental and dance group Ensemble uBu with the dancer Sophia Otto, by ensemble mosaik, and by Ensemble Experimental and the SWR Experimentalstudio under Detlef Heusinger. Me Du Ça is an IRCAM production. The other recordings were produced or coproduced by the SWR Experimentalstudio, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and the German Music Council. The booklet text is by Lydia Jeschke.

Expanded sound sources play a large part. In Me Du Ça (2016), for soprano and live electronics, the soloist's snake-like hair is made of tubes that extend her body. Sounds are produced by blowing or scratching, and others are triggered as filters, amplification or delays. In Messenger (2017) the piano is not played in the usual way: an item of clothing connected directly to the strings sets them vibrating. Narcissus & Echo (2018) is scored for soprano, alto, clarinet, cello, drums and electronics.

Cheng's work moves in a field of tension between old and new. Titles such as Narcissus & Echo and Calling sirens are borrowed from ancient Greece, while the musical language uses electronics and video feeds. Joining apparently opposed or distant things is a central idea for her. She is also drawn to social interaction in the form of games, and to their likeness to music. Calling sirens (2019) is written for a choreographed piano trio and dancer, and Your smartest choice (2017) for four musicians and electronics.

CD, Wergo WER 6432 2, released in 2020 in the German Music Council's Edition Zeitgenössische Musik.