STEPHEN PERILLO (b.1955): Symphony No. 1, Hangoverture, Oboe Serenade, Song for America.

Description: Perillo's symphony is like an entertaining tour of the highlights of 19th- and tonal 20th century Russian music - from Mussorgsky through Prokofiev. The slow movement is a lushly sentimental salon piece writ large in full orchestral garb, and the finale is a lively, light rondo. Song for America is a set of variations on a simple chorale-like melody; a patriotic post-9/11 piece, interspersed with tolling bells. Perillo's fondness for earnest, eloquent melody, and a certain Russian feel to the orchestral texture is also evident in the engaging Oboe Serenade. Hangoverture was written for a New Year's concert, and exemplifies the lively, riotously good-humoured light music that Perillo plainly feels most at home with - it could easily be a suite from a film score, a good one at that. H. David Myers (oboe), Symphony Orchestra St. Petersburg; Yuval Waldman.