Musique d’hiver (winter music) is an evocative four-movement work intended to portray various aspects of the coldest season of the year. It is imaginative stuff, more delicate than Ms. Hétu’s usual spastic fare. The music is made by a small group of musicians playing a bevy of instruments (among them accordion, saxophone, Jew’s harp, prepared piano, foot tapping and “soundscapes”), with Hétu covering sax and vocals. Her vocal style is as affected and mannered as ever, consisting of growls, whistles, shivering, screeching etc — bel canto it is not! In the context of this piece, she controls herself pretty well, though, which allows the music to take on a magical, ethereal quality more fitting its theme than would be, say, monkeys squabbling over scraps of food. I haven’t been overly fond of some of Joane Hétu’s past work, but Musique d’hiver is just restrained enough and moody enough to win me over.