The first volume of this Guarnieri symphony cycle (Nos 2 and 3, 12/02) was excellent, the second – with the First coupled with the rather empty Fourth (2/04) – somewhat less engaging. However, from the (slightly Bartókian) outset of the Fifth (1977) the music compels attention. Guarnieri’s style remained close to that of North America: the language sounds much closer to that of, say, Peter Mennin than to his compatriot Villa-Lobos. There is a good deal of Hindemith in the scoring as well as the melodic writing, though Guarnieri’s harmonic and structural processes are not those of the German master. The wistful Lento nostalgico is equally impressive but the music enters a new dimension with the primitivistic choral-orchestral finale setting a short poem in praise of the ‘stubborn’ river of Guarnieri’s home town.

The Sixth Symphony (1981) is another compact three-movement design, this time in the Walter Piston mould, with a brief preludial Allegro succeeded by a longer, haunting slow movement and short, rapid finale. The symphony’s heart – like so many of the American’s – lies in the Triste central span. Yet it is middle-period Stravinsky that bubbles to the surface in the vivid opening Energico e ritmado.

Separating the symphonies – and quite different from them in expressive intent – is a 10-movement suite from music written for the film Vila Rica in 1957. There are several splendid movements that would make this a welcome concert item, not least the Gingando finale. The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra play marvellously and John Neschling directs with great understanding. Excellent sound.