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Igor Markevitch's renunciation of composition at the age of 29 in favour of a conducting career remains a mystery, given the rapturous responses his youthful music inspired. The extraordinary works on this disc are a case in point.

A Symphony in all but name, Zemlinsky's lavishly scored 'symphonic fantasy' Die Seejungfrau is his most frequently performed large-scale work beside the Lyric Symphony. Based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the mermaid who sacrifices herself out of unrequited love for a prince, the work places greater emphasis on thematic development than on mere illustration.

The highly personal style of American composer Benjamin Lees lends his music the lofty grandeur and sardonic wit, not only of Shostakovich but also of the Cubist and Surrealist artists, all of whom he so admires. Lees, who also shares Britten’s refined sense of harmony, delights in contrasts and surprises, enthralling the listener at every turn from the lyrical to the burlesque, the romantic to the brusque.

Premiered at the 12th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, Warsaw, in March 2008, Jeajoon Ryu's Sinfonia da Requiem was hailed as 'a masterpiece' by Krzysztof Penderecki and enthusiastically received by the Festival audience with a ten-minute standing ovation.

This third volume of Malipiero's symphonies features the most widely played of all his Symphonies, the strikingly original Sixth (for strings) from 1947. The adventurous, at times dissonant Fifth, with its concertante part for two pianos, juxtaposes chamber and orchestral textures.