TOMÁS MARCO (b.1942): Symphonies No. 2 "Espacio cerrado", No. 8 "Gaia's Dance" and No. 9 "Thalassa".

Description: he terse, tragic second symphony 'Closed Space' is cast in a single span, divided into sections by a recurring tonal chord, contrasting with the much more chromatic argument of the symphony - not that the work ever approaches atonality. Long-breathed, desolate melodies underpinned by obsessively pulsating ostinati lend the work a degree of affinity with Pettersson. The recent Ninth evokes the primeval spirit of the sea in two linked movements which progress from a surging, deep-toned impressionistic representation of primordial chaos to a more dynamic treatment of the material, in which fragments of a 13th-century melody are audible as flotsam on the tide. The Eighth borrows elements of dances from all over the world, with African and Latin rhythms predominating in the first movement, mysterious sonorous effects and sensuous melody in the second, and elements of popular contemporary dance superimposed in a quasi-chaotic collage in the finale. Fairly approachable for the mildly adventurous. Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra; José Serebrier.