Page 174 - Aldeburgh Festival 2022 FINAL COVERAGE BOOK

The point where language and music collide is an abiding preoccupation for the
French-born, London-based Héloïse Werner, whose new solo
album, Phrases (Delphian), displays her versatility as a singer and composer, but as
musical catalyst too. The 12 tracks, mostly premiere recordings, include works by Elaine
Mitchener (the sensuously surreal Whetdreem); Nico Muhly’s prayer-like Benedicite
Recitation, with beautiful solo flute; Oliver Leith’s Yhyhyhyhyh, an exploration between
voice and detuned cello; Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s tiny scena Something More Than
mortal; and Josephine Stephenson’s hypnotic Comme l’espoir/you might all disappear,
with guitar.

Werner’s four songs (including Syncopate, with Zoë Martlew), from vocal acrobatics to
verbal confession, and Récitations by the Greek experimental composer Georges
Aperghis complete this distinctive album. Werner is joined by her first-rate regular
collaborators: Colin Alexander (cello), Amy Harman (bassoon), Calum Huggan
(percussion), Lawrence Power (viola), Daniel Shao (flute) and Laura Snowden (guitar).

Danish String Quartet, Prism IV, (ECM)

The Danish String Quartet, who made their debut in 2002 when three of the original
lineup were barely out of their teens, are as adept at playing folk and contemporary as
mainstream classical. Prism IV (ECM) is the penultimate album in their series uniting a
Bach fugue, a Beethoven quartet and a work by a later composer. Here, Beethoven’s
Quartet Op 132 in A minor is preceded by Bach’s G minor fugue from the Well-
Tempered Clavier (arranged by Emanuel Aloys Förster) and followed by Mendelssohn’s
String Quartet No 2.