ROBERTO SIERRA (b.1953): Sinfonía No. 4, Fandangos, Carnaval.

Description: As his international success increases, Puerto Rico-born Sierra keeps moving farther away from the dissonances present in his first two symphonies (08J087) and concentrates on imbuing his newer compositions with Hispanic sensibilities, new harmonies and tropical rhythms, turning out vibrantly colorful hybrids infusing classical forms with Latin American idioms as in the four-movement 2008-09 symphony. The 2000 curtain-raiser Fandangos uses elements from pieces of this genre by Soler, Boccherini and Domenico Scarlatti as starting points for a series of episodic Bolero-like variations. Carnaval (2007) uses quotes from Schumann's piano work of the same name and from his Papillons in its Sphinxes movement (the others are Gargoyles, Unicorns, Dragons and The Phoenix) in a 21-minute orchestral work-out which contains "oriental" sounds as well as Latin American ones in producing an entertaining, festive suite. Nashville Symphony; Giancarlo Guerrero.