Although the composer Joaquim Serra is extremely famous within Catalonia, in the North-East of Spain, he is unfortunately far less well-known to audiences beyond his homeland. This first recording of his orchestral works could therefore have an important part to play in winning more widespread recognition for him and his works. His music has an extraordinary lyricism, underpinned by appealing harmonic writing, an absolute mastery of orchestration, displaying both his understanding of instrumental colour and a limpid, intricate and fluid use of counterpoint, and a unity of thematic ideas, whose interpretation and development are always tinged with a fresh Catalan flavour.