The Concerto for Cello and Orchestra of 1979 was composed in memory of a colleague of Schiffman at Florida State University—the late Roger Drinkall. In this sumptuously scored piece, I hear sidelong glances at Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony, and Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, but then I tend to hear a lot of things these days. Whether those allusions are conscious or unconscious inputs by the composer is irrelevant. What matters is that Schiffman has woven these and other strands into a fine, largely neo-Romantic work which, in the end, projects his inimitable voice over all others. The more neo-Classical “Double” Concerto for Horn, Bassoon, and String Orchestra of 1992 was composed in fulfillment of a commission from a husband and wife team in the North Carolina Symphony—the late hornist Eileen Gress and bassoonist Victor Benedict. The work’s deft opening exploits instrumental sonority as a crucial element, and its melodic material suits the articulation properties of each of the solo instruments to a proverbial T. The movement is full of unselfconsciously flowing counterpoint, and is enlivened by unexpected pedal-point shifts. The balances between the soloists and the orchestra are exemplary.

The elegiac second movement presents variations on thematic material of the first movement, and the finale incorporates hunting horn calls as a friendly nod to Eileen Gress. My general impression of this piece, after numerous hearings, is that of enormous cerebral expertise on the part of its composer, but an expertise leavened with infectious amiability.

The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra of 2006 was composed at the request of the soloist on this offering, Rebekah Binford. For its thematic material, Schiffman went back to sketches for a violin concerto he had jotted down in 1953 while serving with the U.S. Army in Germany. Like the Cello Concerto, the orchestra is sonically rich, deploying a harp and a celesta. The soaring lyricism of its first movement brings Samuel Barber to mind—but a somewhat leaner and cleaner Barber. The opening of its second movement is strikingly atmospheric, utilizing the harp to both great effect and affect. The third movement opens with a cadenza that morphs into an amiable (again that word) romp. Rebekah Binford, like all the soloists on this release, turns in an exemplary performance.

The sound of the orchestra in all cases is a bit too colorless and thin for my taste, but it always successfully conveys each musical line, and though the Györ Philharmonic Orchestra under Mátyás Antal is no Vienna Philharmonic, it plays with outstanding musicianship, and is totally simpatico with the essences of these three scores. This music creates the illusion of having been spontaneously dropped into the head of its composer, and then simply transcribed. This is only my illusion. I have made no attempt to contact this composer, other than through his music. He may, in fact, have sweated bullets to bring these pieces to such satisfying fruition. Here Schiffman, like so many successful composers of the past, is writing for his friends, and from the evidence before me, his friends are legion.