LUCIANO SIMONI (b. around 1938): Symphony No. 3, Op. 41, St. Paul Hymni for Tenor and Orchestra, Op. 44.

Description: The symphony opens with an episode of high drama, but before long the composer's lyrical tendencies exert themselves, and despite some dissonant episodes the work is profoundly tonal. The scherzo-rondò has a shadowy Busonian ambiguity, and the slow movement is a long-breathed melodic arch. The finale returns to the conflicts of the first movement, generating considerable tension in its striving for resolution, which is achieved despite some residual dissonances, suggesting a hard-won victory. Hymni is an example of Simoni's explicitly religious music, setting texts from St Paul's epistles as a kind of dramatic cantata in which the shadow of tragedy alternates with luminous exultation. Kiss Domokos (tenor), Târgu-Mures Philharmonic Orchestra; Romeo Rîmbu.