Considered by many to be the greatest Japanese symphonist, Saburo Moroi wrote five symphonies, the best known of which is the often harrowing No. 3, completed just before the composer was called up towards the end of World War II. With its violent depiction of the fever of war, soulful meditation on the land of the dead, and an overall structure and sound that recalls Beethoven, Franck, Bruckner and Shostakovich, Symphony No. 3 represents the pinnacle of Moroi’s creative power. The Two Symphonic Movements teem with extraordinarily motoric and dynamic development, not unlike the best examples of Hindemith.