This well-filled CD of relatively early works by Andrzej Panufnik will be of special interest to anyone curious about what lies behind his later symphonic compositions. The Sinfonia rustica is the best of the bunch by some way, since even if it is difficult to hear it without making comparisons—here with Martinu, there with Honegger or Copland—it has a well-integrated style and its materials are presented with energy and imagination.
In the shorter pieces we seem to hear a composer trying to decide whether to be a late- or a post-romantic, unsure how much use to make of relatively traditional harmony, and how much of newer instrumental effects. The result is often more withdrawn than serene, and what now sound like fairly dim recordings don't help. The two overtures have the strongest profiles, even if their ideas lack distinction. But admirers of Panufnik's later music will probably find the very diversity of these apprentice pieces intriguing, and the Sinfonia rustica well merits revival.'