Lars-Åke Franke-Blom (b1941), a native of Norrköping in Sweden, is a name new to me. He studied in Stockholm under Daniel Börtz (a pupil of Hilding Rosenberg) and attracted attention in the mid-1970s with a brace of orchestral works. Since then he has been performed around Sweden with works ranging from choruses to symphonies, operas and a TV-broadcast ballet. He writes in an intuitive manner, without appearing to use any particular system, though his harmonies are some way from the diatonic.

Endymion (1997-2000) is the most recent of the works on offer here. Based on a poem by Erik Stagnelius, it depicts the attempted seduction of the sleeping youth by the moon goddess Selene. With its seductively impressionistic and graphically powerful orchestral textures, Endymion makes a good introduction to Franke-Blom’s music. The inspiration for the symphonic poem Web of Yearning (‘Längtans väv’, 1983-84) is very different as its seven sections reveal: ‘Calm waters; Dark masses of water in motion; Waterfall and empty industrial buildings; The machines are started/Weaving and looming; The machines are turned off; Song dedicated to the workers; Demonstration and fight for a better world’. Not a socialist manifesto in music, but rather a musical history of Norrköping itself, which only slightly over-reaches its material.

The three movements of the Third Symphony, Fire on Earth, are derived from works by German artist Anselm Kiefer: ‘Jacob’s dream’, ‘Elizabeth of Austria’ (one painting of which uses human hair) and a sculpture on an aeroplane: ‘Journey into the End of Night’. The limitations of Franke-Blom’s harmonic language and imagination are made manifest here and, despite its subtitle, the symphony fails to ignite. Performances and recording are excellent overall, though Web of Yearning – recorded at its 1984 première – sounds its age a little.