KAMRAN INCE (b.1960): Symphony No. 5 "Galatasaray" for Soprano, Tenor, Boy Soprano, Chorus and Orchestra, Requiem Without Words for Ethnic Voice, Soprano, Baritone, Kemençe, Tambur and Orchestra, Before Infrared, Hot, Red, Cold, Vibrant.

Description: The second symphony we've offered in honor of a soccer team (anyone remember the one for Middlesborough FC about 12 years ago?) sounds like something Carl Orff might have written if he were Turkish - a 33-minute pagan rite with much brazen sounding pomp in hymn-like and march-like music and the boy soprano's tone adding to the Orffian vibe. Well, even the notes suggest that it's more an oratorio than a symphony. The 20-minute Requiem (for the victims of 2003 terrorist bombings in Istanbul) traffics in sounds of human anguish and of free-floating threat and anxiety before ending with a Byzantine-hymn-like comforting ending. The tightest and most invigorating works are the two oldest: 1986's Before Infrared evokes a huge mass of something awakening, getting moving and then hurtling through space while Hot, Red... (1992) is another juggernaut based on brawny ostinato figures whose minimalist tendencies are offset by shrieking brass interjections, whacks on the bass drum and other unexpected jolts to its rhythmic progress. Various Soloists, Turkish Ministry of Culture Choir, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra; Kamran Ince.