I know you want a CD review now.

This disk was a gift from a former girlfriend. She bought it off my Amazon.com wish list where I had placed it on a whim. I probably wouldn't have bought this myself; I use that wish list a bit like a placeholder list for items I might buy--after a little consideration. But this is the sort of risk I take in order to expand my horizons, musically speaking. If you occasionally take a risk and listen to something you wouldn't ordinarily hear, you never know what you might find.

I put this disk on my wish list because it's named for the Pyrenees mountains and at the time, I was still pretty jazzed by my two-week bicycle ride there.

The disk is Sinfonica Pirenaica, by Jesus Guridi. The symphony is a rather traditional four-movement work. Labeled as three movements, the middle movement is really two--a fast and a slow inner movement. While the harmonies aren't overly dissonant, they are rich and they support some beautiful melodies and straightforward rhythms. Some of the development sections seem a little wayward and Mr. Guridi seems to have mistaken plainness for stylistic unity. Nothing here will jump out as exciting and the handling of orchestral timbres is a trifle uninteresting.

The Bilbao Symphony is featured here, led by Juan Jose Mena, and they create a polish to the sound that highlights the work's tunefulness at the cost of shining a spotlight on the frumpy soundscape. I'd be happy to hear more from this band. The disk closes with a dance excerpt from Guridi's ballet, Amaya, and the orchestra sounds like it's having a bunch of fun.

6 out of 10

CDs listened to today:

• Esa-Pekka Salonen: L.A. Variations
• Olivier Messiaen: Trois Petites Liturgies de la Presence Divine
• The Philosopher Kings: (eponymous)
• Matias Aguayo: Are You Really Lost
• Steve Reich: Different Trains
• Frank Sinatra: The Best Of the Columbia Years, 1943-1952, disk 3
• William Schuman: Symphony No. 9