CHRISTOPHER GUNNING (b.1944): Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4, Concerto for Oboe and String Orchestra.

Description: The two single-movement symphonies, of almost identical proportions, form a contrasting pair of semi-autobiographical reflections on events in the composer's life. The third (2005) is turbulent and uneasy in mood, with an underlying sense of doubt and lack of resolution; the fourth (2007) presents a more 'daylight' character, less dissonant and more straightforwardly tonal, in recognition of the resolution of the issues that had troubled the composer two years previously. In both symphonies material presented in the first section is treated to a kind of continuous metamorphosis in successive sections of contrasting character, providing a sense of progression through the customary symphonic argument without exactly conforming to the conventions. The eloquent concerto is a conventional three-movement specimen, with a questing first movement, a somber slow movement and a lively perpetuum mobile finale. Verity Gunning (oboe), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Christopher Gunning.