“To me, the romantic spirit in music is important because it is timeless.”

These words by David Diamond capture the essence not only of the composer himself, but of an entire generation of American composers whose heartfelt music was born during the Great Depression and World War II. Symphony No. 2 begins with an elegiac slow movement whose textures recall the “American” sound of Copland as well as the lean beauty of the Adagio finale of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, countered by the optimism of the concluding rondo, based on a jaunty, unmistakably “American” theme. Symphony No. 4, dating from the final year of World War II, is a compact, probing work created at a time when Diamond was preoccupied with thoughts of mortality. It concludes, nevertheless, with an assertive and exuberant finale which breathes the fresh air of the American outdoors.