The sounds Abrahamsen craves, white and translucent across a large range of actual expression, hugely complex on the page but delectably simple to the ear, are exceptionally realised and recorded here.

The dryly factual subtitle of Hans Abrahamsen’s Schnee, “10 canons for nine instruments”, hardly hints at the magical sonorities and glittering reflections explored in this 55-minute work…This performance seems to capture both the rigour and feathery fragility of Abrahamsen’s instrumental writing far more bewitchingly [than the premiere recording].

At different times the listener may feel lost in a blizzard, pierced by icicles or battered by an Arctic wind, although direct illustration is never Abrahamsen’s purpose. Structured in the form of ten canons, the hour-long piece carves out a meditative wintry space for the listener’s own thoughts and feelings.