This CD – something of a family affair – introduces us to the symphonic side of a composer whose name will be familiar to television audiences for his memorable signature tune for Poirot starring David Suchet. The background to the Third Symphony records an anxious period for the composer and his wife due to ill health, now thankfully past; and the Oboe Concerto celebrates the artistry of their daughter, Verity.

Christopher Gunning is a resourceful and imaginative composer, clearly fascinated by the single-movement form in which both these symphonies are cast. Of the two of them, it’s the Third that immediately takes a grip on the imagination and offers the listener the experience of a full symphonic workout. With a clear imprint announced at the start through a series of dissonant chords, recurring at various intervals, the symphonic structure is clearly delineated in the grand manner. Both symphonies possess a bracing outdoor air, inspired in the case of the Third by the composer’s therapeutic walks in the mountains of Wales; but the Fourth feels more random in its purpose with a somewhat overcooked conclusion.

The piquant Concerto for oboe and strings, for me, takes the palm. Light on its feet, with some lovely moments for individual players in the first movement, it acquires a more ruminative, melancholy feel in the second where the soloist appears to be lost in her own thoughts. The quasi moto perpetuo finale brings out the youthful and spirited character of its dedicatee. This is a charming composition, winningly played.