Many unfamiliar with Huw Watkins (36 this year) as composer are likely to have encountered him as pianist, in which capacity he appears in three of the pieces on this NMC disc devoted to his music. The Sonata for Cello and Eight Instruments (1999) brought him to wider attention and, while its engaging interplay seems assured though a little anonymous, the central Lento’s eliding between hieratic woodwind chords and lyrical cello cantilena points to a more personal expression. Such is evident in the remaining four works (composed between 2001 and 2009): not least Four Spencer Pieces with its arresting translation of that artist’s canvases into piano terms – heard at its most impressive in the restlessly accumulating activity of ‘The Resurrection of Soldiers’, framed by a ‘Prelude’ and ‘Postlude’ of ethereal poise – and the Partita, which vividly reimagines the solo violin medium in interspersing three finely wrought pieces with interludes of improvisatory deftness.

The other pieces both employ texts – the Three Auden Songs having recourse to the poet’s earlier texts in music that embodies their elusiveness in a highly thoughtful manner, while the Fourth ‘Goodison’ Quartet, In my craft or sullen art, pointedly sets the same Dylan Thomas poem in two emotionally distinct yet motivically related ways, to which alternating commentaries from the string quartet provide continuity as well as context. Superb performances as expected from these artists, with Bayan Northcott’s notes an added enhancement, though quite to what extent the booklet cover design reflects the actual music must be for each listener to decide.