The Norwegian Halvor Haug (b.1952) is probably best known in this country for his First Symphony, for which the listed comparative account of Silence is a coupling. The Third (1991-93) is more ambitious expressively. Its title, The Inscrutable Life, links to Nielsen's Fourth (the Dane held life to be 'inextinguishable'). Haug's eruptive score, in a single movement divided into two unequal parts, strikes me as anything but inscrutable. Somewhat elusive, it has impressed more with each acquaintance, although I still do not find it wholly convincing. The main four-note musical cell (a favourite device of the composer's) - first heard in a striking, Petterssonian opening - is worked out thoroughly, but harmonically the music is too static, at times a touch aimless. The short second part uses, Respighi-like, a taped nightingale (and to close the work) ; surely a miscalculation, underlining the music's inability to resolve itself.
The shorter items are more characteristic in quality. Insignia (1993) is a better piece than the pretentious subtitle 'symphonic vision' might suggest, but the best items are the two works for strings. The early Silence (1977) is a delicate and highly accomplished piece for a 25-year-old, while Song of the Pines (1987), written as a memorial to a local pine forest that was destroyed, has a really affecting blend of grief and outrage. Ruud has the measure of each score, directing splendid performances; that of the ECO in Silence shades the verdict over Dreier and the LSO. Sound quality is also very good.'