Rumours of the death of early music have, of course, been greatly exaggerated but the recent trajectory of L’Arpeggiata is evidence of a post-Early Music condition that is not quite covered by the term ‘crossover’. There is naturally some crossing here, in that very different musicians play together and create something new by entering into each other’s musical worlds (what the definition of crossover should be but so rarely is). Pan-Mediterranean projects such as this have been successful before but they have usually been instigated from outside the ‘classical’ world (one thinks of George Dalaras’s 2005 Mediterranean disc or Savina Yannatou’s work with Primavera in Salonico); L’Arpeggiata is every bit as successful.

Christina Pluhar’s outsize continuo group here performs with instrumentalists from Turkey and vocalists from Catalonia, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, and produces predictably spectacular results (the spectacular aspect may be readily enjoyed on an accompanying DVD). Mísia is not exactly representative of traditional fado, and that is to the advantage of this collaboration, but paradoxically her singing here is the most traditional I have heard from her and she complements the rest with her very different timbre. Finding similarities and differences between vocal styles is in fact one of the delights of this disc, while the ‘glue’ that holds all this together is of course the instrumental ensemble. Two particular highlights are the playing of cornettist Doron David Sherwin and the inclusion of Grekaniko-texted songs from Salento. Outstanding.