Born and trained in Russia, the composer Alla Pavlova later settled in America and composed music for a variety of media ranging from film and dance, to theatre. Her Symphony No. 2 ‘For the New Millennium’ is her first work for full orchestra and, in the words of the composer, represents ‘the necessity of human striving towards light and love, no matter how tragic the reality may be.’ Symphony No. 4 depicts the composer’s own path of spiritual development – visually captured by the painting ‘Path to Shambala’ by Nicholas Roerich on the cover of this CD. Pavlova’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 can be heard on Naxos 8.557157.