Steven R. Gerber (born 1948) is of the generation of what might be called "the new tonal school." These composers, born in the 1940s and '50s, have one foot in the modern/avant-garde/contemporary composition and the other firmly in the "classic" tradition of 19th/early 20th century symphonic music. Gerber studied with Milton Babbitt, yet his music has some affinity with Gorecki and Glass. Though not a minimalist, Gerber's works make good use of subtle repetition and lush masses of sound.<BR>In his Symphony No. 1, he integrates the mathematical repetition of Philip Glass' orchestral writing and the dense, melodic Germanic vocabulary of Bruckner, and constructs a symphony of gently pensive tension and understated drama. The Viola Concerto is a somber work that juxtaposes the acerbic viola of Lars Anders Tomter with a dense, slightly turbulent orchestral milieu reminiscent of the modernism of Ruggles and Ives and the approach of Beethoven.<BR>This is a beautiful album of "modern" music played in the "classic" manner, while refusing to be fixed-into and limited by either category. $39.72