Following his fascinating Odradek debut with 'Chalk Factory', Basque composer Ramon Lazkano returns with an album of world-premiere recordings featuring intimate original works for voices and ensemble.

The album is unified by the enigmatic, elusive poetry of Edmond Jabès, a French writer of Egyptian origin. Lazkano sets two volumes of short poems by Jabès: Main douce à la blessure même and Ceux à qui. The isolated, withdrawn voice of Main surplombe (2012-13) is submerged within the instrumental texture, while the six voices of Ceux à qui (2014) provide a response, conversing and exclaiming before the text dissolves as the music fades away.

Main surplombe is performed by soprano Johanna Zimmer, who has performed in contemporary operas at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the opera houses of Oslo and Antwerp, among others, and who has made appearances as a lecturer on the Darmstadt Summer Courses. From 2015 to 2019 she was the first soprano of Neue Vocalsolisten, a group of seven highly skilled singers who perform Ceux à qui. Throughout the album the singers are joined by L'Instant Donné, a democratic and versatile ensemble with a growing international reputation.

The album is a coproduction with Radio France, recorded during their Festival Présences in Paris in 2017.