From the opening, shimmering vibraphone to the players’ subtle vocalisations of rain sounds and ethereal use of piano and harp, Japanese composer Noriko Koide’s Swaddling Silk and Gossamer Rain is mesmerisingly descriptive. “The title is really poetical, and what captivated me about this piece was how imaginative it was,” conductor Dalia Stasevska tells Apple Music Classical. “There are some techniques in this piece that I’ve never seen or heard used before that are so captivating. The players not only mimic the sound of dropping water, but they also use a pencil between violin strings as kind of like a tapping sound.” Throughout the piece, and in the final bars as the rain subsides, Koide makes beautiful use of silence, says Stasevska, which is as much a part of this work as its captivating soundworld. “For Koide, silence is music,” she says. “Every single silent moment is a musical moment—it’s a very meditative piece.”