Motivated by a ‘quest for the beautiful, with the humble hope that I may be privileged to achieve this goal, if only for one precious moment and share this moment with my listeners’, Vittorio Giannini was an impeccable craftsman and masterful orchestrator with a gift for arching, expressive melodies that reflect his abiding love of European musical culture. His Piano Concerto is redolent of Rachmaninov, while the passionate Symphony No 4 , with its heartfelt central movement, places Giannini among America’s finest Neo-Romantic composers. Both works appear not to have been performed since their premières in 1937 and 1960.