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At National Sawdust, Ligeti's 18 études and 18 responses are presented as a whole and are best heard that way, too, indulging in Han Chen’s fluency and the richness of his Fazioli concert grand.

Aaron Siegel’s suite of songs, delivered by the unearthly American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, are short, elegant and uncluttered, bringing the vocal works of Ives and Messiaen, or even Purcell, to mind.

Soprano Gelsey Bell instilled a very human spirit into the role of the troubled widow. The decidedly formal Jeffrey Gavett was well cast as the dead man. Their duets rang with perfection. 

Downes' playing is soulful, perhaps rather American, which gave Schumann a late-night jazziness. That tendency fit better with selections by Nina Simone and Harlem Renaissance composers Margaret Bonds and Florence Price.